Chapter 365: Draconic Wings
Crystal found herself once again in the frozen wasteland where she had met the impassive Dragon God. She had thought they had grown at least a little bit closer but it became clear to her now as she stood across from the unsmiling God, the progress between them was minimal at best.
She lifted her chin, letting the blindfold fall away completely. Her ice-blue draconic eyes gleamed, the color stark against the stark white of the snow. She had grown accustomed to the power they gave her, the way the world seemed to pause when she looked directly at it. Yet now, across from Eisvir, that confidence faltered slightly.
The Dragon God did not flinch. He did not blink. He did not shift. He did not acknowledge her gaze in any way. His silence was absolute, unyielding, and cold in a way that went beyond the frigid air.
Crystal’s pulse quickened, frustration curling around her chest. She had expected at least the slightest recognition of her growth, some acknowledgment that she had changed. But Eisvir remained motionless, a perfect monolith of frost and stillness.
Finally, she spoke, her voice cutting across the wind. "I am not the same as before. Do you see that?"
Eisvir’s head remained fixed, his eyes unblinking. His voice came, calm and neutral, carrying the weight of certainty rather than emotion. "I see what is present. Nothing more. Nothing less."
Crystal clenched her fists, the cold biting into her knuckles. She realized that nothing she did would provoke even the smallest response from him. His assessment would come not from reaction, but from observation and judgment alone.
"You measure progress differently," she said, voice low, almost to herself. "I need to understand, not just perform."
Eisvir did not answer. His form remained still, a frozen sentinel in the wasteland. The wind howled around them, yet he did not waver. Crystal understood then that his evaluation would come only from the actions she took, from what she could accomplish without hope of approval or acknowledgment.
Eisvir’s gaze remained fixed, unyielding, yet his voice cut through the wind with quiet authority. "You have built a foundation solid enough. The time has come to transform another part of yourself."
Crystal froze at his words, a chill deeper than the frozen wasteland settling into her bones. She had anticipated growth, training, trials, but the implication of transformation made her chest tighten.
For the first time since she had met the God, a question rose unbidden in her mind, one she could not push aside. Would any part of her remain human once the transformation was complete?
Her pulse quickened. The thought unsettled her more than the cold, more than the endless expanse of snow around them. She had embraced her draconic power, but there had always been a boundary she had clung to, a line she had hoped would preserve some fragment of herself.
"I... I have to ask," she said, voice barely above the wind. "When this is done... will I still be human at all?"
Eisvir’s response was measured, detached, as if speaking a simple fact rather than a consideration. "What is human is defined by limitation. What you are becoming is defined by mastery. The change is necessary. The outcome is inevitable."
Crystal swallowed hard, her hands trembling slightly despite the layers of ice and cloth. She had no illusions about what power demanded, yet the certainty in Eisvir’s words left a hollow ache.
The wind whipped around her, carrying the promise of transformation, and she realized that from this point forward, there would be no turning back.
Eisvir’s voice cut through the whipping wind again, calm and deliberate. "The next step shall be the Draconic Wings."
Crystal frowned, a line forming between her brows as she narrowed her gaze at him. "Wings?" she asked, her voice sharp with disbelief. "I... I don’t have wings."
Eisvir did not shift or react. His eyes remained fixed on her, unblinking, unyielding, as though he were stating a fact that required no argument. "You will," he said simply. "All that is required is the will to bear them and the body to shape them."
Crystal’s pulse quickened, a knot of uncertainty tightening in her stomach. Wings. The word alone felt alien, impossible. She had grown accustomed to her draconic eyes, the subtle power that pulsed beneath her skin, but the idea of wings, of transforming a part of herself so dramatically, made her question just how much of her humanity would remain intact.
"I don’t... I can’t just sprout wings," she said, her voice wavering slightly despite her attempt at defiance. "That is not something a person can do."
Eisvir’s gaze did not falter. His voice was steady, factual, devoid of patience or judgment. "Limits exist only in perception. The body is clay. The will is the fire. You have grown strong enough to shape yourself beyond human constraints. This is the next step."
Crystal’s fists clenched tighter, the cold biting into her knuckles, yet the knot in her stomach grew heavier. She had expected trials, tests of strength or endurance, but this, this felt permanent, irreversible. The question she had tried to push aside returned with renewed force. How much of herself would remain after she followed the God’s instructions?
Her gaze hardened, ice and determination mixing with unease. She did not speak again, but in the silence that stretched between them, the enormity of what Eisvir had decreed pressed down like the frozen sky above.
Crystal’s eyes widened as a sudden, searing pain shot through her back. She stumbled forward, gasping as if the cold itself had turned into fire. Her hands clawed at her shoulders, her body shivering uncontrollably as the sensation intensified.
It felt as though her bones were being reshaped from the inside, her flesh twisting and stretching against her will. She gritted her teeth, refusing to cry out, yet the agony was relentless, coiling through her spine like molten ice.
Then, slowly, the pressure eased, replaced by a strange sensation of weight and balance. Crystal’s hands moved to her back instinctively. Where her fingers had expected only skin and bone, they found something new. Her flesh had warped and stretched, smooth and pale, glowing faintly in the frigid light.
A pair of beautiful wings unfurled from her back, the membrane delicate yet strong, the pale blue shimmer of their scales catching the snowlight. They extended wide, elegant and formidable, a living extension of her own body. She flexed them experimentally, a strange mixture of fear and awe flooding her chest.
Crystal staggered, wings bracing her as her legs tried to adjust to the sudden shift in her center of gravity. They felt alive, responsive to her thoughts and subtle movements. Her pulse raced as she realized she could move them, could lift herself even slightly off the frozen ground with effort.
With a soft smile, the first thought that came to her mind was
Now Aria isn’t the only one with wings.