Complete and total darkness swallowed Kaiser again. The kind that made his heartbeat sound too loud and your breath feel like it didn’t belong in his throat.

  Kaiser blinked once, and then twice before muttering “Not again.” to himself

  It was a familiar nothingness—the same cold, reality-bending void he’d been yanked through twice when he was in Arkhold. A void that didn’t move around him so much as ignore him completely. His stomach turned and his spine felt like it was trying to bail out through his back. Somewhere deep in his brain, a strange, traitorous instinct fired off like a war horn.

  Then, as suddenly as it came, the darkness vanished, only for a surge of blue light to come to life beneath his boots.

  He stumbled slightly as his eyes snapped wide in pure confusion. The darkness peeled back in waves as the walls lit up, revealing sleek, curved surfaces of seamless metal, etched with lines that glowed a cold, electric blue. They crawled across the walls and floor like rivers of lightning, pulsing in time with something deep beneath the surface.

  It was now clear that the chamber around him wasn’t just some normal room.

  There were no bricks, no seams, no torches—just a massive, curved hallway stretching in both directions, lined with built-in seats, each one facing forward toward large round windows.

  He stepped toward one cautiously. The floor under him was solid, yet vibrated faintly with each step, as though a giant heartbeat echoed through the structure. Before he could think too much about it, he reached the window, and as he tried to look out of it, he realized there was… nothing.

  Just darkness. Pure, soundless black. Not the kind from lack of light. The kind that made you wonder if there was anything out there at all. Every seat had its own window, its own little view into that abyss. Rows of them, one after another, perfectly spaced.

  Kaiser felt a chill run up his neck from his deduction. This wasn’t a castle. This wasn’t even a dungeon. This was something other. There were no fire pits, no tapestries, no stone columns holding the ceiling. There wasn’t even a ceiling, just a high, domed arch lit by those same eerie, blue veins.

  A distant roar began to echo beneath him. Not a beast’s roar. Not even a sound, really. More a presence—like the grinding of mountains underwater. The floor thrummed with it. The walls, too. The whole structure felt like it was preparing.

  He looked down at his hands.

  “I’m inside something,” Kaiser said aloud, eyes wide, one hand on the wall. “Where the hell is Regulus? Did he put me in a coffin? Is this one of those noble funerals from the Empire? Does this mean he found some information about it? But if he found information that important, why the hell did he reveal it in such a bizarre way?”

  A voice crackled suddenly through the air, clear and sharp. “Unfortunately, no. But now I really want to hear more about this funeral ritual. Sounds… Almost cult-like.”

  Kaiser spun around like he’d been slapped. “What?! Who said that?”

  He clenched his fists, ready to throw a punch, his eyes darting wildly in every direction. The hallway remained just as empty as before, filled with rows of vacant seats, windows staring into nothing, and the soft hum of blue veins glowing across the seamless walls, but there was no Regulus in sight.

  “You always talk to yourself like that? Wait—don’t answer that. I already know the answer.”

  “Regulus!?” Kaiser shouted, staring at the ceiling. “Where the hell are you?!”

  “Technically I'm above you. I'm in the head. You’re in the lower thoracic observation spine. Or as I like to call it: the weird rattlesnake belly part.”

  “Why do you sound like you’re everywhere?! Are you a ghost now?! Is this your tomb?! Were you a spirit of some kind this whole time?”

  “Gods, this is better than I imagined. You sound like an old man yelling at a glowing rock.”

  “Well, I’m a young man yelling at a metal wall right now!” Kaiser retorted.

  “And you’re doing a great job, buddy.”

  Kaiser stormed to the nearest wall and slammed his palm against the smooth metal, glaring up at it like it owed him money. “Tell me where we are, or I swear I’ll tear this thing down!”

  “You wouldn’t even know where to start. You can’t even find the exit.”

  “WHERE. ARE. WE.”

  “We’re inside a machine, obviously. A metal dragon. Gods, how do you not see that?” Regulus said sarcastically, but Kaiser didn’t exactly hear it in his voice.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Kaiser pointed accusingly at the glowing window. “That is not a dragon! Dragons have wings, sharp teeth, hoard gold and most importantly are living beings. This… thing has chairs! This is just some oversized carrige! Not to mention that they are pure fairy tales made to keep children from exploring the mountains.”

  “You’re halfway right, actually.” Regulus chimed in smoothly.

  Kaiser blinked. “Halfway right about what?”

  “About dragons being fairy tales.” Regulus paused, as if savoring the moment. “They do exist. They’re just… not what you think they are. Technically speaking, they’re the same race as someone like Mia.”

  Kaiser’s brain halted like a wagon slamming into a tree. “What?” His voice cracked with disbelief. “Are you saying Mia is a dragon?!”

  “No, no—calm your head for a moment.” Regulus said with a laugh. “She’s a Grounded. Dragons are Grounded too. They are the same race, but much different origins.”

  Kaiser stood there with his mouth half-open. His thoughts collided violently in his head like soldiers in a siege.

  “You—what—how does that even—” He looked down at his palms like he expected scales to be growing there. “Mia’s a Grounded… dragons are Grounded… what the hell does that mean?”

  “It means,” Regulus said, with the dramatic pause of a man who loved the sound of his own revelations, “That dragons are very much real here. They’re not rare either. We’ve seen plenty over the years. Some live deep in the Core Deserts. Others sleep in craters big enough to bury castles. There are wild ones. Tamed ones. Ones that nest on top of boiling geysers. Even one that lives in the spine of a dead god.”

  “In the—what?!” Kaiser snapped, throwing his arms up. “No. No, see, I was with you until that. That’s where I draw the line. You are absolutely, without a shred of doubt, full of shit.”

  Regulus laughed so hard the comms crackled.

  “I knew that part would break you,” he wheezed. “Gods, your voice even cracked. That was adorable.”

  “I’m not adorable, I’m confused and probably hallucinating!” Kaiser said, pacing furiously between chairs. “What the hell do you mean that one lives in a spine of a god?! Why are you telling me this now?!”

  “Because you impressed me,” Regulus said, suddenly serious again. “The way you fought Milo… not many people could’ve handled him like that. Not even among the Liberators. I brought you here because it’s about ten minutes until we reach the others, and I wanted to talk to you before we reach them.”

  Kaiser stopped pacing. “Wait. You’re saying we’re traveling toward them right now?”

  “That would be correct.”

  “And we’re going to reach them in ten minutes?”

  “That’s the plan.”

  Kaiser opened his mouth to argue more, but Regulus’ voice cut in again.

  “We shouldn’t be gone too long, they’ll begin to worry if we’re away for too long after all. So take a seat, and enjoy the finest ride the Northern Liberatorium has to offer.”

  Then the entire structure groaned like a sleeping beast, before stretching awake. Not a slow wobble, but a violent, disorienting lurch to the side that sent Kaiser tumbling across the floor like a loose potato.

  “Shit!”

  He scrambled, boots skidding on the smooth surface, until his hand snagged a curved bit of protruding metal near one of the chairs. His shoulder throbbed from the fall, and his heart still raced from the lurch. With a grunt, he hauled himself upright, then immediately dropped into the seat like the floor might vanish under him.

  Outside the now glowing window, something caught Kaisers attention. He realized that the void outside was no longer so… void.

  Bits of dark brown sand floated up past the window, swirling like smoke. Fine grains caught in the blue glow of the ship, giving the impression of a vast underwater current. Kaiser’s eyes widened in realization, “We’re under the desert…” he whispered.

  “Correct!” Regulus announced cheerfully, as though Kaiser had just solved a crossword. “Good job, my dear passanger! This metallic dragon named Varisis was buried when we arrived here about a week ago, and she just woke up.”

  Kaiser pressed his face to the glass. The desert sand parted like waves around them as the ship gained speed, piercing through earth like a spear. The noise wasn’t a roar or a rumble—it was more like a pressure behind the ears, like the world itself was politely stepping aside to let them through.

  “So you built this?” Kaiser asked slowly.

  Regulus let out a sharp laugh, the kind that crackled through the comms with a little too much joy. “Me? Build this? Gods, no. I love building things, but this? This is way beyond my skill set.”

  Kaiser squinted at the walls. “So you didn’t make it.”

  “No. It was built by the greatest scientist in the world. And I mean that literally, not figuratively. She’s… a phenomenon. Unhinged, brilliant, probably sleep-deprived beyond saving.”

  Kaiser raised an eyebrow. “She?”

  “Yeah. Girl’s only been around for a few years and she’s already built over twenty of these babies. And not all the same, mind you, all of them are different in some aspects. Some fly. Some dig. Some do… weirder things.”

  “Like what?”

  “One of them can cook. Has a kitchen built into its back like a traveling inn. Terrible idea in combat, but we’re still proud of it.”

  Kaiser blinked slowly, then stared back at the glowing veins in the wall. “…And these were just handed out?”

  “To the best of us. These things were awarded like medals. The highest figures in the Northern Liberatorium all got one. Most are still active, like Varisis, the one you’re sitting in.”

  Kaiser went quiet for a moment, tapping a finger on the armrest. “…So,” he said slowly, “Can they fight?”

  “Somewhat. Against bandit swarms or rogue beasts? They’re monsters. You’d think they were gods. But put one up against someone like me or Milo?” Regulus let out a dry laugh. “It’d last maybe three minutes. Tops.”

  “Only?”

  “If it’s lucky and the pilot’s not drunk.”

  Kaiser’s gaze drifted out the window, eyes tracing the swirl of sand like it could answer something for him. “And the real dragons?” he asked. “How do they compare to these metal ones?”

  “Ah-ah,” Regulus cut in, suddenly smug again. “That’s a good question. But if we’re doing this, we’re doing it right.”

  Kaiser tilted his head. “Doing what?”

  “Back-and-forth. I brought you here because I wanted to speak without the crowd, and without the poking and prodding. So here’s my proposal: one question for one question. You ask. I ask. We alternate until we reach the surface.”

  Kaiser considered it, then gave a short nod. “Alright. Fair.”

  “Perfect,” Regulus said, tone light but focused. “Then here’s mine: tell me as much as you can about the person who thought you how to fight.”

  Every victory counts! Whenever any of these milestones is reached, I’ll drop a Bonus Chapter as a reward! Hit them all, and you get even more!

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