A week passed, and then a month, and Kian’s condition did not improve. Every free moment he had, Adrissu was studying or experimenting, trying to find a way to help Kian; but everything they tried was either just as temporary as the medicine or entirely ineffective. To his credit, Kian did his best to help, but with only a few hours in the day free of pain and lethargy, his contributions were few and far between.
Everything felt bleak. Adrissu kept thinking back to that one tiny verbal stumble, that instant when Kian gasped and stuttered. Had that alone been enough to throw everything off-balance? The ritual hadworked, but something had gone wrong, hadn’t turned out quite like it was supposed to, and for all that he’d wracked his brain, the only difference he could recall in that moment and every other time they’d tried the ritual had been that one brief instant.
But how could he say that to Kian? The boy was resilient to a degree, but the thought that such a tiny slip-up could be causing him a world of pain now was crushing to Adrissu, so it could only be a thousand times worse for Kian. How could he be the one to tell Kian he’d stumbled at the finish line and now had to suffer?
Or worse, what if his involvement in the ritual had disrupted the delicate balance that Kian needed to make his vision a reality? Despite how hard Kian had worked in this lifetime, he simply did not have the sheer amount of magical energy needed to perform the ritual on a human being. Adrissu added his will to the ritual when he channeled his energy through the salt conduit: they had practiced it, but now he wondered if his doubt and fear had ruined everything.
He could think of only two solutions: first, to try to reverse the ritual. But he did not know if they could, if it would ease Kian’s pain, if Kian would evenwantto. After all this time spent trying to figure out how to change his body, Adrissu suspected he would not want to make the attempt, despite his pain.
The other option was the soul transference. Adrissu was certain that would work. It had to. But he knew how hesitant Kian was about it, how hesitant all his past selves had been about it, so he didn’t dare be the one to broach the topic. No, the only chance he might have of Kian accepting the soul transference as an option was if Kian suggested it first—if he came to the conclusion on his own that this would be the best solution to the problem.
So Adrissu continued his research to find any semblance of a solution, and stepped away from the Academy for the first time to be better able to care for his mate. He told his instructors that his partner was ill and that he needed to care for him. He would only be at the Academy one day a week; in the meantime, he named Nethendriel, the head of the enchantment department, to be the interim headmaster. He could tell Eris was wildly curious about his unnamed partner, could hear the whispers amongst the teachers wondering how they never knew this about Adrissu, but he ignored it all.
His primary focus beyond his research became keeping a steady supply of the pavera root extract in his tower to ensure Kian would never be without, no matter how fast he went through it. Much as Kian hated how exhausted it made him, it was the only thing that seemed to even touch his pain. When able, Kian would read or draft letters to some of the transmutation experts he knew to ask their advice; but even this seemed to sap his energy quicker and quicker as time went on, until all he could manage was a few pages of a book, or a few paragraphs written in a shaking, messy script.
But Adrissu refused to be the one to broach the topic. He knew Kian would arrive at the same conclusion eventually. And as they neared two months, one morning after he’d managed a few bites of breakfast before laying down again, Kian finally broached the topic.
“Do you think it would make me better? The... soul transference?” he asked, not quite meeting Adrissu’s gaze. Despite the medicine, he hadn’t been sleeping well in the past week, so his downturned eyes had dark bags beneath them. Adrissu took in a steadying breath—finally—then nodded.
“It would,” he said softly. “I’m certain it would, Kian.”
The human was silent for a long moment, looking down at his lap. Finally, when he looked up at Adrissu, something in his gaze was so utterly exhausted that Adrissu’s heart broke for the hundredth time. Maybe, he thought, he should have said something sooner after all.
“Then I want to do it,” Kian murmured, his voice breaking. Angrily he wiped at his eyes, before continuing, “I thought—I thought I could do this, couldfix it, but... I don’t know. I feel horrible all the time. I can’t focus enough to even try to fix it. And I don’t want to be like this forever.”
“I understand,” Adrissu said, reaching over to clasp his hands, fingers still damp with tears. “It won’t be forever, Kian. Give me a few days to locate a dragon and make sure I have everything we’ll need, okay? We’ll figure this out. I promise it won’t be like this forever.”
His eyes were still glassy, but Kian nodded resolutely with his lips pressed together in a tight line. “I know. I trust you.”
Gingerly, Adrissu leaned down to kiss his forehead. “I’ll go right now. Do you need anything?”
“No,” Kian sighed, leaning back where he lay on the chaise lounge, his favored spot for most of the day since he could no longer bear to climb the stairs on his own. “No, I just took some medicine, so... I’ll probably sleep until the afternoon.”
Adrissu nodded, smoothing his messy hair. “Alright. I’ll try to be back before you wake up. Vesper will be right next to you the whole time.”
Kian managed a weak smile at that. “I know. She’s a good girl.”
From where she was coiled next to him, Vesper’s head perked up slightly.Good,she agreed.
“Keep an eye on him,” Adrissu said to her as he straightened up. “I’ll be back soon.”
The first order of business was to ensure that he had all the necessary items for the soul transference ritual. He had not performed such magic in a while, but a quick inventory of his lair revealed he had kept everything he needed; some of the dried herbs were a littletoodry, but he didn’t think it would be an issue, as long as he handled them carefully. Finding a stone suitable for a human soul took some digging through his lair. One that would hold a dragon soul was much more time-consuming, but eventually he had both: a medium-sized, but extremely clear diamond for Kian, and a massive chunk of raw emerald for the dragon.
Next was to locate a suitable dragon. After some asking around, he learned that there were rumors of a new dragon taking up residence a few days to the west, near the southern coast. Of course, the stories conflicted. Some said it was golden-scaled and others that it was yellow, but all agreed it was quite young, and the lair very recent. A young dragon, barely established, probably seen as a nuisance by any local human populations, and unlikely to be missed—this would be the ideal option, but Adrissu would have to go scout out its lair to be sure.
Though it would have been a few day’s journey by foot or on horseback, it was only a few hours by flight; the town it neighbored was hardly more than a village sustained by farmers and brick-makers, the local soil dense with clay. With Kian in such a sorry state, Adrissu was loath to leave him for so long, but he had to be sure the dragon was even there before attempting anything. So he left early the next morning before Kian had woken for the day, leaving Vesper with strict instructions to make sure that he drank water and took his medicine as soon as he woke. Depending on how quickly he could gather information, Adrissu hoped he would make it back in time for dinner, but that was optimistic. Vesper knew not to truly expect him until the next day, and he brought the enchanted scroll they shared so Kian could contact him if he needed to.
When he arrived at the village late that morning, he took the visage of a plain-looking human man, a monster hunter searching for his next big kill. The small village had only one tavern, but that was where information could always be found, so he went straight there.
“I’ve heard rumors of a dragon in the hills,” he said to the local barkeeper, leaning on the countertop with all the manufactured swagger and self-confidence he could muster, thinking of Ruan. “Any truth to them?”
The woman rolled her eyes, looking up and down his unassuming frame—but when he tossed her a gold coin, she raised an eyebrow before pocketing the coin and answering with an exasperated sigh,
“Sure is. A young one, but they’re dangerous the moment they’re big enough to be on their own. But everyone knows not to go beyond the first set of foothills if you want to ever get home. If you’re seeing the treeline where the forest gets dense, you’ve already gone too far.”
“Excellent,” Adrissu replied, grinning. “And how long has it been since this dragon has been spotted?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen it,” she said, balking. “You couldn’t pay me enough to go looking for that thing. Though I will tell you, we’ve had a few men just like you, sniffing around, hoping to get the glory of killing a dragon, and I only ever see them the once. Trying to slay a dragon is a fool’s errand.”
