Re:Birth: A Slow Burn LitRPG Mage Regressor

The morning sun filtered through the trees as Adom made his way down Merchant's district, a small bundle tucked carefully against his chest. To any passerby, he was simply carrying a wrapped package. They couldn't see the golden eyes peering out through a gap in the soft cloth, or hear the constant stream of questions being whispered in a voice like wind chimes.

"Good day, Adom!" called Mrs. Hendricks from her bakery doorway, flour dusting her apron. "How's your mother doing?"

"Very well, thank you," Adom replied with a wave.

"What's that smell?" Bennu asked for the fifteenth time in as many minutes.

"Bread," Adom replied patiently. "From the bakery."

"It's wonderful. Can we get closer?"

"We're going to walk right past it."

As they approached the shop, Bennu's head pushed further out of the wrapping, his beak twitching as he took in great drafts of air. "Oh, this is much better than what I could sense through the shell. There are layers to it. Wheat, and something sweet, and—is that cinnamon?"

"Probably. Mrs. Hendricks makes cinnamon rolls on Wednesdays."

"What's a cinnamon roll?"

Adom considered this. "Bread, but sweet. Rolled up with cinnamon and sugar."

"That sounds incredible. Do humans eat sweet bread often?"

"Some do. My sister would eat nothing but sweet bread if Mother let her."

They passed a flower cart, and Bennu practically vibrated with excitement. "Stop, stop! What are those colorful things?"

"Flowers."

"I need to smell them. Please."

Adom glanced around, then stepped closer to the cart. The vendor was busy with another customer, paying them no attention.

Bennu's beak disappeared into the folds of the wrapping as he inhaled deeply. When he emerged, his eyes were half-closed with bliss. "They're like concentrated sunshine. Each one is different. How many kinds are there?"

"Hundreds, probably."

"Hundreds," Bennu repeated reverently. "I want to smell all of them."

"That might take a while."

"I have time."

A young man loading sacks onto a cart looked up and grinned. "Ghost! Heard you made completed your first mission. Congratulations!"

"Thanks, Marcus."

Bennu's eyes went wide. "Everyone knows you!"

"Yeah, I have been here for a while," Adom said laughing.

"Adom Sylla!" An elderly woman waved from across the street. "Tell your father I have those seeds he ordered!"

Adom waved back. "I will, Mrs. Copper!"

Then a horse and cart clattered past, and Bennu's head swiveled to track the movement. "Horses are exactly as I expected."

Adom paused mid-step. "Wait. How do you know what horses are?"

Bennu tilted his head. "Oh. Well, I've heard about them before."

"From where? I thought you said everything was new."

"Not new, exactly. Better. Much, much better than I imagined." Bennu's voice took on a thoughtful quality. "About five thousand and ninety-eight years ago, I was sold to a tribal chief of the horse lords in the eastern continent. He gave me to his new bride as a wedding gift."

"His bride?"

"She was very young. Maybe sixteen? She'd been traded to him to secure peace between their peoples." Bennu's eyes grew distant. "She was frightened at first. So was I, honestly. But she... she was kind. She would talk to me every day."

They resumed walking, Bennu's voice growing warmer with the memory.

"She told me about everything she saw. Described the horses, how they moved, what they ate. She explained wheels and carts and tools. She'd place me near the fire—not just any fire, but the sacred flames they kept burning in the center of camp. Those flames were wonderful, Adom. They made me feel... alive."

"She sounds special."

"She was. Every night, she'd hold me close and tell me stories about dragons and phoenixes and great riders and distant lands across the sea. Oh! the sea! We need to see the sea!"

Adom laughed. "We will."

"Really? When?"

"How about today?"

"Today?" Bennu's voice pitched higher with excitement. "Actually today?"

"The beach is only a few minutes away by flight."

"I've waited ten thousand years to see the sea and you're telling me it's an hour away?"

"More or less."

"This is the best day of my entire existence." Bennu paused. "Well, technically it's my only day of existence outside the shell, but still."

Adom grinned. "You didn't finish your story, though."

"Oh, right." Bennu's tone grew more thoughtful. "She taught me about freedom and strength and what it meant to be reborn. She came closer than anyone ever had to making me hatch. I could feel myself wanting to emerge, wanting to see her face."

"What happened to her?"

"Her husband died in battle. His brother inherited everything, including me. He had no use for a 'useless rock' and sold me to a traveling merchant within the week." Bennu's voice grew quiet. "I never saw her again."

Adom felt a pang of sympathy. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright. She gave me something precious—knowledge of the world. That's why I recognize so many things. Her descriptions were... quite thorough."

They turned a corner, and Bennu caught sight of a woman hanging laundry on a line. "She used to describe that too. How the horse lords would clean their riding leathers and hang them to dry in the wind."

"You remember all of it?"

"Every word. When you have nothing but memories and hope for company, you tend to hold onto both rather tightly."

A dog barked somewhere nearby, and Bennu's head popped up. "Though she never mentioned anything quite that loud."

"Dogs weren't common among horse tribes?"

"They had them, but she called them 'shadow wolves.' Much more poetic, don't you think?"

Adom grinned. "Everything sounds more poetic when you're telling stories."

They passed a blacksmith's shop, the rhythmic hammering echoing from inside. Bennu listened with rapt attention. "She described this too. The ringing of metal on metal, the smell of hot iron and coal smoke. Though she called them 'song-smiths' because of the rhythm."

"Song-smiths. I like that."

"She had a way with words."

The street began to change as they moved away from the residential district. The shops grew more eclectic, their signs more colorful and strange. Windows displayed items that defied easy categorization—crystals that hummed with mana, books that occasionally fluttered their pages, mirrors that showed reflections a few seconds too late.

"This area feels different," Bennu observed.

"The new magic district. People come here for unusual things."

"The horse lords had shamans, but nothing like this. This feels... organized."

"Magic tends to work better when it's organized."

They stopped in front of a narrow shop that seemed to have been squeezed between two larger buildings like an afterthought. The sign above the door read "Weird Stuff Store" in cheerfully painted letters, with smaller text underneath that proclaimed "If we don't have it, you probably don't need it."

Biggins had renovated the place to make it even weirder.

"This is it," Adom said.

Bennu peered out at the storefront. "The name is refreshingly honest."

"Mr. Biggins believes in truth in advertising."

As Adom reached for the door handle, a fat orange cat materialized on the windowsill, blinking slowly at them with amber eyes. Two more cats—one black, one striped—were sunning themselves on the steps.

Bennu's head emerged fully from his wrapping, golden eyes wide with fascination.

"Are those cats?"

He's back, the orange cat's voice drifted into Adom's mind.

About time, added the black cat from the steps, not bothering to lift his head. Thought maybe you'd gotten yourself eaten by something with more teeth than sense.

The striped cat--clearly the youngest of the three--practically vibrated with indignation. Speaking of getting eaten, that furry little fraud Valiant still owes us our payment from last week's job.

What? The orange cat's mental voice sharpened considerably. He didn't pay you either, Goliath?

Not a single can of the good stuff, Merlin, Goliath replied, his tail lashing.

The black cat--Archimedes--finally lifted his head, fixing Adom with a look of profound disappointment. We did exactly what you asked. Followed those suspicious merchants for three days straight. Found out they're smuggling something through the old warehouse district every Tuesday night.

Magical something, Merlin added with obvious irritation.

And what do we get for this valuable intelligence? Goliath continued. A mouse telling us he doesn't have 'budgetary clearance' for wet food.

"Wait," Adom said, "let me get this straight. You did the surveillance job I asked for, but Valiant didn't pay you because--"

But before the cats could elaborate further, Bennu let out a delighted chirp.

"Hello, cats!"

Three pairs of feline eyes turned to stare at the small phoenix with expressions ranging from mild curiosity to complete bewilderment.

What, Merlin said slowly, is that?

It's small, Goliath observed.

It's blue, Archimedes added helpfully.

It talks, Merlin concluded, as if this was the most suspicious thing about the entire situation.

"Oh, I'm Bennu!" the phoenix continued with undiminished enthusiasm. "I'm a phoenix! I hatched yesterday and everything is wonderful and new and exciting and you're my first cats ever!"

Your first... cats? Goliath's mental voice carried a note of confusion.

Ever? Archimedes sounded personally offended by this concept.

How is that possible? Merlin demanded. Cats are everywhere. It's basically impossible to avoid us.

"Well, I was in an egg for ten thousand years," Bennu explained cheerfully. "So I missed quite a lot."

Ten thousand years, Archimedes repeated faintly.

In an egg, Goliath added.

That explains the enthusiasm, Merlin muttered. Probably explains why it can understand us too. Magical creatures.

"Bennu," Adom said, "meet Merlin, Archimedes, and Goliath. They're are some of our finest security consultants."

"It's wonderful to meet you all!" Bennu said. "You have such interesting thoughts! And your mental voices are very pleasant!"

It can hear us? Merlin's ears perked up with interest.

Directly? Goliath tilted his head. Without needing Adom to translate?

Strange, Archimedes mused.

"Listen," Adom said, "I'll hear you out about what you found later, and I'll pay you myself. I'm sorry Valiant didn't follow through."

We want extra, Goliath announced immediately. For the inconvenience.

And the emotional distress, Merlin added. Do you know how demoralizing it is to be lectured about 'proper channels' by something that squeaks when it's nervous?

Double portions, Archimedes concluded. The premium stuff. With the chunks.

"Fine," Adom said, trying not to laugh. "Double portions, premium wet food, chunks included."

And patience compensation, Goliath pressed. We've been very patient.

"Triple portions?"

Acceptable, all three cats replied in unison.

"Bye, cats!" Bennu called out as Adom stepped toward the door. "It was wonderful meeting you! I hope we can talk more later! You're all magnificent creatures and you definitely deserve triple portions of whatever you want!"

I like this one, Merlin announced with approval.

Much more sensible than most magical creatures, Goliath agreed.

Certainly more sensible than Valiant, Archimedes concluded.

As Adom's hand neared the door handle, the door swung open by itself with a soft creak, as if the shop had been watching their entire conversation and decided they'd waited long enough.

The moment they stepped inside, Bennu's head popped up from his wrapping, golden eyes going wide as he took in the shop's atmosphere. The air hummed with a dozen different magical artifacts, crystals glowed softly on shelves that seemed to extend higher than the building's exterior should have allowed, and somewhere in the back, something was making a sound like a teakettle.

"Is this the dragon's lair?" Bennu whispered, his voice filled with awe.

"Yeah," Adom said, grinning. "Pretty much."

Before either of them could take another step, a contraption roughly the size of a barrel floated toward them through the air. It was painted in cheerful pastels and had a hand-cranked mechanism on one side, along with what appeared to be a small freezing rune that made the air around it shimmer with cold.

Bennu stared at the floating device. "Adom, what is this?"

"Frosties machine," Adom said, looking at it with mild surprise. "Biggins must have gotten it working again." He paused, studying the contraption as it bobbed gently in front of them. "Actually, I was just thinking about these. Do you want to try some?"

"Yes!" Bennu said immediately. "What are frosties?"

"Cold, sweet, flavored ice. Usually."

The shop appeared to be empty. No sign of Biggins or his usual chaos of customers, so Adom reached for one of the small cups stacked beside the machine. He turned the crank a few times, and the device dispensed what looked like shaved ice in an alarming shade of purple.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"New flavor," Adom observed, holding the cup up to examine it. "Hopefully not experimental."

He offered the cup to Bennu, who immediately stuck his beak into the purple ice and took a tentative taste. His eyes went wide, then thoughtful, then slightly confused.

After a moment, Bennu pulled his head back and looked at Adom with an expression that might have been apologetic.

"Adom, can I be honest with you?"

"Of course."

"I like the smell of sugar," Bennu said carefully. "It's wonderful, really. Makes me think of sunshine and happiness and all sorts of pleasant things. But I think I like salty things better for actually eating."

Adom burst out laughing. "Not everyone has a sweet tooth."

"Is that normal? For phoenixes, I mean?"

"I have no idea what's normal for phoenixes," Adom said, still grinning. "But it's perfectly normal for anyone to like what they like."

Bennu looked relieved. "Good. Very good."

The sound of crashing waves suddenly filled the shop, accompanied by what sounded distinctly like someone gargling seawater. Adom and Bennu both turned toward the noise, which seemed to be coming from a door marked "Private - Authorized Personnel Only."

Several thick, greenish tentacles emerged from under the door, writhing with what appeared to be considerable distress. They flailed about for a moment, occasionally slapping against the doorframe with wet, meaty sounds.

Then came the struggling noises.

A series of gurgles, splashes, and agitated screams.

The tentacles gave one final, desperate wiggle.

Silence.

A long, satisfied slurp echoed from behind the door.

Adom and Bennu looked at each other. Bennu's expression clearly asked for some kind of explanation. Any explanation would do.

"I have no idea," Adom said honestly.

The door opened, and Biggins emerged, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and humming what sounded like a sea shanty.

When he spotted Adom, his humming stopped. His eyes–currently a deep, golden amber with vertical pupils–fixed on Bennu.

"Hello, Mr. Biggins," Adom said.

The dragon eyes blinked once, then shifted back to their usual human brown, but Biggins' gaze never left Bennu.

"Is that who I think it is?" he asked, taking a step closer.

"Mr. Biggins, meet Bennu," Adom said. "Bennu, this is Biggins. He owns this place."

"Great scales and burning skies," Biggins breathed, clapping his hands together once. "A phoenix!"

Bennu's head perked up immediately, golden eyes brightening with excitement. "You know what I am! And you have very interesting eyes!"

"Oh, you wonderful creature," Biggins said, practically bouncing on his toes. "How marvelous! How perfectly, utterly marvelous! When did you hatch, little one?"

"Yesterday!" Bennu said proudly. "Everything is new and exciting and full of surprises!"

"Yesterday!" Biggins repeated with delight. "Fresh from the egg and already so articulate! Extraordinary! Simply extraordinary!" He looked at Adom with sparkling eyes. "This calls for celebration."

"I agree," Adom said with a grin.

Then came a thought.

"Hey," Adom said, glancing back at the door where the tentacles had disappeared, "what exactly were you doing back there?"

"Oh, well," Biggins said, brushing something that might have been seaweed off his sleeve. "First, I must congratulate you on your presence-hiding skills, my boy. Quite impressive. I wouldn't have let you witness that if I'd noticed you arriving."

"I had a good teacher."

"Indeed you did." Biggins straightened his vest. "You see, this human form, while convenient for daily commerce, isn't precisely my true form. I'm considerably larger in reality. As such, I require sustenance somewhat more substantial than a few chocolates." He paused, eyes twinkling. "Though I do enjoy those as well. Ho ho ho."

"What was it?" Adom asked.

"Kraken," Biggins said cheerfully. "Quite succulent, actually."

A moment of silence settled over the shop.

Krakens were legendary creatures of the deepest waters, rarely seen and never captured. They could grow to the size of sailing ships, their tentacles capable of crushing stone, their intelligence rivaling that of the most brilliant scholars. Most sailors went their entire careers without so much as glimpsing one, and those who did typically didn't live to tell about it. The fact that one had somehow ended up in Biggins' belly...

"You know," Adom said slowly, "I'd like to see your true form sometime."

"Oh, I'm quite large," Biggins said with obvious pride. "Dragons never stop growing, you understand. It's been some time since I've fully assumed my real form."

"The Farmusian fleet you attacked five years ago during the Prince's trial had a few survivors," Adom said. "They described a dragon the size of a warship, with scales that turned arrows to ash and breath that could melt steel from a hundred yards away."

Biggins burst into delighted laughter. "I hadn't even assumed my real form then! That was barely half my actual size. Quite modest, really."

He turned to Bennu, who had been listening to this exchange with growing wonder.

"Which reminds me, little one," Biggins said, his tone becoming more serious but still warm. "You'll need to learn how to change forms as well. This isn't the primordial age anymore. Our kind live better when hidden."

Bennu's eyes went wide with excitement, practically vibrating in Adom's arms. "I'm going to do magic?!"

"Before that, though," Biggins said gently, "tell me—have you two formed a bond?"

"Yes," Adom said. "I even got something called—"

"Resonance," Biggins finished, nodding with satisfaction.

Adom blinked, caught off guard. "Yeah, but how did you know the name?"

"Those who form bonds with beings like us share much of our abilities as well," Biggins explained. "There were dragon lords and phoenix lords before, according to the old legends. At least."

He smiled at both of them, and for a moment the cheerful shopkeeper facade fell away entirely, revealing something deeply pleased.

"I'm glad you're back," he said quietly.

Adom felt his curiosity spike. Biggins rarely made a face like that—only when he talked about his past, about times so distant they felt more like myths than memories. There was something wistful in the old dragon's expression. Adom was wondering what exactly he was thinking, what memories were stirring behind those suddenly distant eyes, but before he could voice the question—

"This door," Biggins said, gesturing toward the portal where he'd been battling the kraken, "opens onto the open ocean. We could try that resonance of yours there, away from prying eyes. How about it?"

"You made a portal in your store?" Adom asked.

Biggins walked toward the door. "Oh, there are many portals in my store, leading to many places."

He grasped the handle and pulled the door open. Beyond the threshold, instead of whatever back room should have been there, stretched an endless expanse of blue-green ocean under a cloudy sky. Salt air drifted into the shop, carrying the sound of distant waves.

Bennu let out a sound that was half chirp, half gasp. His eyes went impossibly wide as he stared at the expanse of water beyond the door.

"The sea!" he breathed. "Adom, it's the sea!"

"Actually, this is an ocean," Adom said, smiling at Bennu's excitement. "Even bigger than a sea. And this doesn't look like it's on our continent."

"Closer to the elven kingdom of Vaelthara, actually," Biggins said casually. "Still in the middle of nowhere, mind you. I come kraken hunting here from time to time."

Bennu practically vibrated with excitement in Adom's arms, his small head swiveling between the ocean and his companions as if he couldn't quite believe this was really happening.

"Can we go? Please can we go? I've waited so long for this!"

"Shall we?" Biggins asked, as if inviting them for a pleasant stroll rather than a step into the middle of the sea.

And in they went.

*****

The ocean felt solid beneath Adom's feet, though he could feel the waves rolling under him like walking on a giant, breathing mattress. Biggins strode beside him, his boots barely making a ripple as they crested each wave.

Above them, Bennu was having the time of his ten-thousand-year life.

The little phoenix had taken to the air the moment they'd stepped through the portal, his blue and gold wings catching the wind with an instinct that needed no teaching. He swooped and dove and climbed again, laughing with pure, infectious joy.

"Look at me!" he called out, executing what might generously be called a barrel roll. "I'm flying! With my own wings!"

His laughter rang across the empty ocean like wind chimes in a storm.

"He's a natural," Biggins observed, watching Bennu attempt an ambitious loop that ended with him tumbling through the air before recovering with a delighted chirp.

"Ten thousand years of dreaming about it," Adom said. "I think he's making up for lost time."

Bennu shot past them at head height, close enough that Adom could feel the wind from his wings.

"Do you know how to use the resonance?" Biggins asked, his tone becoming more instructional.

Adom shook his head. "Haven't tried yet."

"Ah." Biggins nodded sagely. "Well, it's quite straightforward, really. You both have cores that generate mana, yes? Yours churns what we call Axis. Bennu's core naturally produces elemental fire mana."

They walked up the face of a particularly large wave, the dark water stretching endlessly in all directions.

"The bond you've formed creates a... let's call it a bridge between your cores," Biggins continued. "Normally, mana cores are completely isolated. But resonance allows you to draw on each other's power directly. Think of it like..." He paused, considering. "Like two wells connected by an underground stream. You can pull water from either well."

"I see. So I can use his magic?"

"Exactly. And he can use your Axis manipulation, though that's considerably more complex for a newly hatched phoenix to master." Biggins smiled as Bennu executed another enthusiastic dive. "Mana, on the other hand, should feel quite natural to you through the bond."

Adom looked up at Bennu, who was now trying to fly upside down with mixed results.

"How do I access it?"

"Reach for the connection you felt when you first bonded. It should feel warm, like reaching toward a hearth fire. Then simply... borrow what you need."

Adom closed his eyes and felt inward, past his own churning Axis core to something that hadn't been there before. A golden thread that led somewhere bright and warm and eager.

When he opened his eyes, flames were dancing along his shoulders.

"Excellent!" Biggins clapped his hands together. "Now, try extending that to flight. Phoenix fire isn't just destructive—it's pure elemental freedom. It wants to rise."

Adom felt the fire shift, becoming less like flame and more like... possibility.

Fire erupted from his back in brilliant streams, not burning him but lifting him, carrying him up into the dark sky where Bennu was waiting with eyes wide with wonder.

"Adom! You're flying! You're actually flying!"

Below them, Biggins stood on the rolling waves, hands clasped behind his back, smiling up at the two figures dancing through the cloudy sky.

Adom's fire-wings growing steadier with each passing moment. The sight stirred something deep in his chest, something that had been buried for longer than most civilizations had existed.

Three thousand years. Had it really been that long?

"Aelarion?" Said a voice he hadn't heard in millennia.

"What is it, human."

"Come now, my name is Law. You could at least say it, no?"

The memory pulled him back to his mountain lair, to the endless corridors carved from living rock and filled with gold that had lost all meaning.

He'd been alone then, truly alone, sleeping away decades because consciousness had become unbearable. Two hundred years of slumber, and still the emptiness had followed him into his dreams.

The human—Law—had been barely more than a boy, really. Seventeen at most, with the kind of earnest determination that usually got people killed. He'd climbed through treacherous passes and scaled impossible cliff faces just to wake a sleeping dragon and deliver news that had made Aelarion's blood turn to ice.

The village below had been sacrificing their daughters.

Young women, offered up to the great dragon of the mountain for his protection while he slept, unaware and uncaring. Their bones had littered the entrance to his lair like some grotesque offering he'd never asked for, never wanted.

Aelarion had hatched long after dragons had disappeared from the world. He'd never known his own kind. His life had stretched before him like an endless corridor with no doors, no purpose, no companionship that lasted longer than a human lifetime.

He'd tried, once. Attempted to integrate with the world below, to find meaning in the affairs of shorter-lived creatures.

But humans were... disappointing.

They killed each other over scraps of land, over differences in prayer, over gold and power and pride. They destroyed what they couldn't understand and worshipped what they feared.

The other longer lived races like the elves and dwarves were not so different either, really.

And the sacrifices.

Those had been the final insult. He would have given anything—anything—to meet another of his kind, to hear a voice that spoke in centuries rather than years. The loneliness was a physical weight, crushing and constant. Yet these creatures, these humans, threw away their own children as if they were currency.

He would never have killed another dragon. Not for any cause, not for any treasure, not to save any kingdom. Dragons were too rare, too precious, each one a universe of memory and wisdom that could never be replaced.

So he despised them all. Humans, elves, dwarves—every chattering, short-lived species that crawled across the world's surface like ants. They bred and died and left nothing but ruins and regrets.

Except, somehow, Law had been different.

The boy had possessed something Aelarion had almost forgotten existed after millennia of watching petty cruelties and casual betrayals.

Kindness.

Not the performative sort that expected reward, but the genuine article, rare as dragon eggs and twice as precious.

After Aelarion had reduced the sacrificing village to ash and scattered his hoard among the survivors with threats to forget his mountain ever existed, he'd allowed the boy to return.

Law would climb that treacherous path every few months, always calling out the same greeting the moment he entered the lair.

"Aelarion!"

Winter visits, summer visits, spring and fall and everything between. The boy would arrive breathless from the climb, eyes bright with whatever adventure had filled his time since the last visit.

He was a bastard, apparently.

Tenth son of some duke's seventh wife—a woman born to merchants rather than nobility.

The distinction had never made sense to Aelarion. Why should the circumstances of one's birth determine worth? Dragons didn't serve other dragons. They didn't bow and scrape and call each other 'your grace' based on which cave they'd hatched in. The whole concept struck him as fundamentally absurd, like organizing the world based on what color scales you possessed.

But Law had been cast aside for it. Ostracized, alone, unwanted by the very people who should have protected him. Another casualty of human logic.

Perhaps that was why Aelarion had felt something resembling pity. The boy understood loneliness, even if his would only last decades rather than millennia.

"Aelarion, you'll never guess what happened in the capital!"

"Aelarion, I've learned to read ancient Draconic—want to hear me butcher the pronunciation?"

"Aelarion, I just got a farm with a view of the ocean, and live with my mother there. Why don't you come there with us?"

"Aelarion, I'm building my own house now. House Borealis. What do you think of the name?"

Years passed. Law grew taller, broader, more confident. He carved out his own territory, earned his own title through conquest and cunning rather than inheritance. Duke Law Borealis, who'd started with nothing but stubborn determination and a friendship with a sleeping dragon.

And still he came.

Still climbed that impossible path to sit in a cave full of gold and tell stories to the loneliest creature in the world.

Those visits had become the only moments Aelarion looked forward to. The only interruption to the endless, grinding sameness of immortal existence. Law would arrive with tales of his adventures, his struggles, his small triumphs and petty defeats, and for a few hours the mountain felt less like a tomb.

But when Law left, the silence always returned.

Aelarion had tried not to get attached. Tried to maintain the careful distance that had protected him through millennia of loss. But humans aged so quickly. Already Law's hair was showing silver at the temples, lines etching themselves around his eyes like cracks in stone. Soon he too would be gone, and Aelarion would return to his endless sleep because consciousness without companionship was unbearable.

He'd considered ending it. Simply willing his heart to stop, his breath to cease. But that would mean the final extinction of dragons, and he couldn't bring himself to be the one who closed that particular door. So he endured, trapped between unbearable loneliness and the responsibility of being the last.

Life had become hopeless. A waiting game with no winner.

Until the day Law arrived with something different in his eyes.

He was middle-aged now, gray threading through his hair, but his gaze still held that same bright intensity that had first drawn Aelarion's attention decades earlier.

"Would you like to one day see dragons again?"

Aelarion's first instinct was to laugh. Law had always possessed an unfortunate tendency toward what he called humor—usually poorly timed observations that he found far more amusing than anyone else did.

But the boy wasn't smiling.

"I had a vision," Law said quietly.

Ah. That explained the seriousness. Law's ability in divination was unlike anything Aelarion had encountered in twelve thousand years of existence. The boy could see threads of possibility that stretched across years, predict outcomes that seemed impossible until they inevitably came to pass. It was what had made him such a successful duke, such an effective leader.

It was also why, for the first time in millennia, Aelarion felt something that might have been... hope.

"There will come a boy," Law continued.

"A boy," Aelarion said. "How refreshingly specific."

"It will be after me. Three thousand years from now."

"Ah."

Aelarion's mood had soured.

"They'll call him the Architect."

"And what does he build?" Aelarion asked quietly.

"A new age, Aelarion." Law's voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "He will usher in a new age."

"You're being evasive," Aelarion observed. "What aren't you telling me?"

Law paused, meeting Aelarion's eyes directly.

"He will revive the phoenix."

The words hit like physical blows. Phoenix. In the old traditions, the birth of a phoenix marked the beginning of new eras. They had been the rarest creatures even in the primordial age, fewer in number than dragons but equally ancient, equally important. Kin, in all the ways that mattered.

"The boy will revive the phoenix?" Aelarion repeated, his voice carefully neutral.

"When his time comes," Law said, "and when you help him, one day you will see dragons soar through the sky again, Aelarion."

Law smiled then, the same bright expression he'd worn as a seventeen-year-old boy climbing an impossible mountain to wake a sleeping dragon.

"You won't be alone forever, old friend."

"'When'?" Aelarion said, catching the word before Law could continue. "Not 'if' I help him?"

Law's confidence was almost insulting. Three thousand years of waiting, and the human spoke as if it were already decided, as if Aelarion had no choice in the matter.

But Law just smiled. The same smile that suggested he knew secrets the rest of the world hadn't figured out yet.

"His name will be Adom," Law said quietly. "And his will be the song of light and fire."

Aelarion paused then.

"Adom."

The name hung in the air between them like an incantation.

The feeling was no longer a 'might', he was sure of it now.

Hope.

It was a fragile thing, barely more substantial than morning mist. But it was there. A crack in the wall of despair he'd built around himself, letting in a single ray of light.

The feeling gave him what he could only describe as a second breath.

As if his lungs, which had been functioning purely out of habit for millennia, suddenly remembered what it meant to want air. His heart, which had beaten only because stopping would mean the end of dragons entirely, found a reason to continue.

For the first time in longer than he could remember, Aelarion smiled.

His smile lasted through Law's death at the young age of 102. When Aelarion had held his friend's hand as the light faded from his eyes, and even through the grief, the hope remained.

It sustained him through centuries of wandering.

He left his mountain, his hoard, his comfortable isolation, and walked among the shorter-lived races he'd spent so long despising. He watched their wars, their cruelties, their casual betrayals, and instead of retreating back into bitter solitude, he endured. Because somewhere in the future, a boy named Adom would need him.

The hope carried him through the Dark Age, when magic itself seemed to dim and the old ways were forgotten. Through the rise and fall of kingdoms, through plagues and famines and every small horror that everyone seemed determined to inflict on each other and themselves.

Through three thousand years of waiting.

Of yearning.

Until the day he opened his shop in a small coastal city and waited for destiny to walk through his door.

And then it had.

A skinny boy with caramel skin, curly dark hair and deep blue eyes, so thin he looked like a strong wind might blow him away entirely. But there was something in those eyes—a spark that reminded Aelarion of another boy who'd once climbed a mountain with nothing but determination and stubborn hope.

The boy had walked into Biggins' Weird Stuff Store with his friend Sam, looking for frosties of all things. Magical ice treats. The most mundane request imaginable.

His name, when Sam had called it out in exasperation over some minor disagreement, was Adom.

Aelarion had felt his ancient heart stop entirely for one perfect, crystalline moment. Then it had started again, beating with a rhythm he hadn't felt in three millennia.

It was like finally exhaling after holding your breath for geological ages. Like seeing color after centuries of gray. Like hearing music after an eternity of silence.

The boy he'd waited for was real.

Was here.

Was buying frosties and complaining about homework and living a perfectly ordinary life, completely unaware that his existence meant the difference between hope and despair for the last dragon in the world.

Back in the present, Biggins took a deep, long breath.

A tear traced its way down his cheek as he looked up at the slowly brightening sky.

Above him, Adom and Bennu moved through the air like dancers, their laughter echoing across the empty ocean. Adom's fire-wings had grown steadier, more confident, carrying him in sweeping arcs that left trails of golden light against the dark clouds.

Bennu flew circles around him, chattering constantly about everything and nothing, his own wings beating with the effortless grace of creatures born to the sky.

"This is incredible!" Adom called out, executing a turn that would have been impossible for anyone without phoenix fire flowing through their veins. "I can feel everything—the wind, the warmth, the way the air wants to lift us higher!"

"Higher!" Bennu agreed immediately. "Let's see how high we can go!"

And together they climbed. Higher and higher.

Two figures wreathed in flame against the storm clouds. And as they rose, something changed. The fire around them grew brighter, warmer, more intense.

The darkness began to retreat.

What started as golden flames became something that transcended simple fire, becoming pure light that cut through the cloudy sky like a blade. The temperature around Biggins rose, not uncomfortably, but like standing near a perfectly tended hearth on a winter morning.

The miniature sun they'd created cleared the dark sky entirely, washing the ocean in warm, brilliant radiance that made the water sparkle like scattered diamonds.

Law's words echoed in Biggins' memory with perfect clarity.

His will be the song of light and fire.

The light bathed Biggins' entire body, warming skin that had forgotten what true warmth felt like. He basked in it, letting the radiance soak into his old bones.

Above him, Adom and Bennu continued their aerial dance, laughing and marveling at powers they were only beginning to understand. Completely unaware that they were fulfilling a prophecy spoken three thousand years ago by a boy who'd believed in impossible things.

It was close now. Whatever came next, whatever challenges lay ahead, the first piece was in place.

"At long last," Biggins whispered.