"Elara, I carved your Ascension Vow into a Mortal Bind." Lila's voice dripped with smugness through our mind-link. A lowblood from a fringe clan. Right now, she was laughing like a gambler who just hit the jackpot. Before I could even speak, my fiancé, Kaelen, cut in, already lecturing me. "Lila never touched the Sacred Stone before. She made a tiny mistake. Aren't you supposed to be the bigger person?" His voice echoed right next to hers. Clearly, they were together, teaming up to screw me over. He snapped the link shut. A cold chill washed over me. Only one minute left on the countdown. Forcing the link back open, all I heard was an annoyed sigh. "Elara, what’s the big deal?! She was just terrified of you leaving us!" "With all your Golden Dragon resources, just hibernate and wait a century for the next cycle!" The countdown hit zero. The array was sealed, locking the Mortal Bind forever. I snapped back to reality and cracked a quiet smile. Kaelen forgot one little thing. Before his Arena Duel this morning, he handed his Blood Sigil to me! So that contract carved into the Sacred Stone right now? Whose blood is it actually binding? I couldn't wait to find out. I wonder if he'll still be the 'bigger person' the day he realizes he's trapped in the mortal realm forever. ... Half an hour later, Lila posted a tearful apology on the clan forum. "Elara, I'm so sorry. I swear I didn't mean to. I guess my lowblood spiritual energy was just too weak." She claimed it was her first time touching the Sacred Stone. The energy was overwhelming. She panicked, accidentally overwriting my Dragon Sanctuary Ascension into a Mortal Bind. —the kind of curse that binds you to a human, burning out your dragon core until you turn to ash. She attached a selfie at the end. Half-dragon form, eyes rimmed red. Playing the victim to perfection. "My clan can't even afford a single Dragon Crystal." "I was only trying to help Elara test the inscription array." "I'll take whatever makes her feel better... even if that means the Council." "Guess us lowbloods were just born unworthy of pureblood magic."
The second those messages dropped, the clan forum blew up. Everyone flooded the comments with sympathy for Lila, tearing into me for overreacting. Before I could even type a reply, Kaelen's dragon-eye avatar lit up. "Elara, say something!" "Lila already apologized. What, you need her groveling and bleeding out just to satisfy your damn ego?" Lila chimed in almost instantly. "Kaelen, please don't yell at her. It's all my fault." That set Kaelen off. "You're too damn nice. That's why entitled purebloods like her think they can walk all over you!" "Elara, hibernating for a century until the next Ascension won't kill you." "But Lila is different! Her clan even sold the firestone for her sister's egg just to get her into this trial! She can't take this kind of shock!" I stared at the screen. My nails dug into my palms so hard that the edges of my dragon scales flared white. Did it hurt? I couldn't feel a thing. This was the man I grew up with. The one who had protected me for eighteen cycles. When we were young, an Earth Drake slammed into me and snapped my wing bone. He carried me on his back across two valleys, crying the whole way. Swearing he'd tear apart anyone who ever laid a finger on me. And now, for Lila—a girl he's known for barely six months—he wiped out everything I'd worked for without a second thought.
People in the forum started stirring the pot. "Come on, Golden Dragon Princess. Cat got your tongue?" Lila dropped another voice note. Her tone was sickeningly sweet. "Please, guys, stop attacking Elara." "I don't blame her. Kaelen has been spending a lot of time helping me practice Draconic magic lately. She probably just got the wrong idea..." The forum went silent for two seconds. Then, a flood of popcorn emojis took over the screen. "Ooh—so the Princess is just jealous." "No wonder she won't let the whole Ascension Vow thing go." I opened a private chat with Kaelen. "Are you absolutely sure you want me to just drop this?" He replied right away, acting like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "What did you expect? Drag her to the Council and get her banished to the Deadlands? Elara, when did you become so vicious?" I clenched my jaw and typed out one final message— "If you were the one locked into a Mortal Bind today, would you still be so quick to play the bigger person?"
For over ten seconds, the mind-link went dead silent. Then, Kaelen's arrogant voice cut through. He was convinced I was bluffing. "Let me make this perfectly clear!" "If I were the one locked into a Mortal Bind today, I wouldn't say a single harsh word to Lila!" "You have no idea how hard she's had it. Unlike you, Elara, all you care about is your pathetic bloodline!" "It's about time you learned how to be a real dragon!" The chat exploded. "Lord Kaelen is on another level!" "Now THAT is our future Guardian of the Sanctuary!" I let out a cold laugh. Sick of their mindless ass-kissing, I closed the chat.
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