Lord of Discipline?

The group dragged their wounded bodies and the heavy dragon heart back to the Dragon Communion altar. The thick darkness of night had already swallowed this ancient place whole.

Hoarah Loux was badly hurt. Where the dragon's tail had struck his waist, his flesh was a bloody mess, and several ribs might have been broken. Sheer ferocity was all that kept him going.

Horace Loux was in even worse shape. The grievous damage to his soul left his head splitting with pain.

"We'll rest here tonight." Forcing himself to stay alert, Horace Loux spoke hoarsely into the air. He knew Maliketh had to be listening.

"Maliketh, please return to the tribe first and protect Marika. My brother and I need to tend to our injuries. We'll return tomorrow."

He needed to send this most direct observer away for a while.

A growl came from the shadows in acknowledgment.

Then the shadow beast was gone.

Somewhat reassured, Horace Loux motioned for the guards to find relatively flat, dry spots nearby to rest, dress their wounds, and light a few small campfires.

He sat leaning against a cold foundation stone of the altar, closing his eyes to steady his breathing and trying to calm the tremors in his soul.

After his wounds had been roughly bandaged, Hoarah Loux sat down against the stone platform too. Soon, exhaustion had him snoring heavily.

At the altar late that night, only the campfires crackled.

Horace Loux did not sleep.

He was waiting.

He looked toward the center of the altar, where Froesanks stood quietly, motionless.

But when morning light spilled down, she turned her head.

"Warrior. Did you do something to me?"

Horace Loux did not answer at once. Bracing himself against the cold rock behind him, he slowly stood upright.

"The moment Bayle breathed his last, my long-held wish should have been fulfilled, and I should have faded away."

"Yet it did not happen. Not only did I not fade away, but a power of unknown origin replenished me. It was neither the Crucible's favor nor gold's blessing. And last night..."

Her voice held both shame and bewilderment.

"I actually fell into sleep. Deep, dreamless sleep, in which I nearly forgot everything."

She fixed her gaze on Horace Loux.

"I broke my oath. I shamelessly indulged in the deep sleep that should have been offered to my lord. Utterly shameless. How am I any different from a beast? My lord... no longer watches over me. Those who have fallen are ancient dragons no longer."

"Was it you, warrior? What did you do to me? Which deity's power was that? So overbearing, so... silent."

Silence settled over the altar, broken only by the occasional crackle of embers and the guards' stifled groans and snores in the distance.

Hoarah Loux was still fast asleep, seemingly oblivious to this questioning in the morning light.

Meeting her gaze, Horace Loux nodded.

"...I caused it."

"Is that the truth? How could you... be so cruel?" Anger seeped into her questions, but deeper self-reproach soon suppressed it.

"No, that is no excuse. Whatever the truth, I was the one who indulged in sleep. My fall is a fact. How can I lose even my last shred of dignity..."

"Enough." Horace Loux instinctively wanted to press E, then caught himself and interrupted her.

"I don't want to hear those words again." He had heard that dialogue countless times in the game.

Reality was not dialogue text. What he needed was results.

Froesanks stopped and looked at him, seemingly reassessing the apparently frail human before her.

After a long while, she turned to another, deeper inquiry.

"But none of that matters anymore..." she said slowly, her gaze falling on her scale-covered palm, as though she could see through the flesh to the binding power woven deep into her soul.

"That power, the nature of its restraint... Warrior, which deity are you the 'lord' of?"

Horace Loux froze.

A deity's lord? Me? He did not remember ever coming into contact with anything like an "Outer God."

The power of the Great Runes came from the system he had awakened himself. It might have some mysterious origin, but it certainly should not be...

Seeing his reaction, Froesanks seemed to misunderstand something. She continued on her own. "That power... there is no mistaking it. A genuine deity... You call it 'discipline'? Very well, Lord of Discipline."

Her tone suddenly grew strange.

"Since you took everything my lord left me on a whim, you ought to take his place. Please accept that responsibility."

Horace Loux felt that things were developing somewhat beyond his expectations.

"Become a dragon, and become the new lord." Froesanks's voice lowered, yet carried a ceremonial solemnity.

"Lead the Dragon Clan forward... my lord."

Become a dragon? A new lord? It took Horace Loux a little time to sort out his thoughts. The dragon girl seemed to have mistakenly attributed the power of the Great Runes system to the authority of some unknown deity.

And as what she saw as its vessel, he was naturally regarded as that deity's "lord" or representative.

Thus, after her "fall," she had naturally taken this bond imposed by the Great Runes as a new object of allegiance, and demanded that he assume the corresponding responsibility—becoming the Dragon Clan's new lord.

This misunderstanding... was rather large, but it did not seem to be a bad thing.

At least she had willingly made the scope of her "loyalty" more specific, changing it from a vague "to me" to "leading the Dragon Clan."

That suited Horace Loux's needs.

"Why choose me?" Horace Loux neither acknowledged nor denied the identity of "Lord of Discipline," instead asking a question of his own.

"My elder brother, Hoarah Loux, is the lord chosen by the Empyrean Marika. He is qualified to contend for the title of Elden Lord. You've seen his strength yourself."

Froesanks shook her head, speaking bluntly. "He is the lord of the Golden Order, not the lord of the ancient dragons." She paused, glanced at Hoarah Loux, who was still snoring thunderously, and added,

"Besides..." She lightly tapped her head with a scale-covered finger.

Her meaning could not have been clearer: his brother lacked the brains, was difficult to "communicate" with, and could not be won over.

Horace Loux had no answer to that.

But he still frowned. "I don't want to become my brother's enemy..."

"Ancient dragons are immortal beings." Froesanks's voice regained its calm.

"We can afford to wait. It is merely a matter of waiting for the next age of Order that does not belong to gold, for the era when the Great Runes truly manifest their might. Until then, you are a dormant seed, a lord yet to take shape."

Horace Loux fell silent.

He truly had no intention of becoming Elden Lord. That position came with far too much trouble.

Besides, the so-called Elden Lord was really just a regent... How could a position from which Marika could dismiss him at will be any good?

Competing with his brother was not what he wanted either, but this was a dragon!

Though he knew dragons were almost certainly not going to let anyone ride them, who knew?

What if he could become a dragon rider?

"...I understand," he said at last, tacitly accepting this new relationship born of a misunderstanding.

"But I need time. And right now, my brother and the tribe need strength. You once promised to offer him reminders when he needed them. Now, I need you to remain at his side, not merely to remind him, but to serve as an adviser. And... teach him and his warriors the ancient dragons' incantations."

He wanted to see what kind of monsters Crucible Knights combined with the ancient dragons' lightning strikes and strength would produce.

Froesanks inclined her head slightly. "As you wish. Following the strong and guiding power are among my duties."

She raised her hand, directing red dragon lightning toward Horace Loux. "This is my dragonbolt. Please accept it as a symbol of my loyalty."

He had obtained "Froesanks's Dragonbolt." This was more direct than he had expected.

Real Dragon Communion surely could not work like it did in the game, trading so many hearts for a single incantation. That would be far too poor a deal.

At the very least, it ought to offer improvements in other areas too.