Sara knew the instant the dragons had teleported away. She could still sense them both, but the distance to them was so great she had trouble wrapping her head around it. They hadn’t said one word before they went.
Ever since she’d been pulled through the wyrmhole in that damned library book, she’d been pretending everything was fine, telling herself it was just a dream, or if not a dream, an adventure. How many isekai fantasies had she read? Here she was embarking on one, and she wanted to be positive about it, but there was one thing missing from Sara’s adventure.
Agency.
Since this whole thing started, she’d had no power, no control, and no choices. She was falling back into her childhood habit of being OK no matter what because she was the oldest and her mom couldn’t handle it if anyone had needs, so she just made sure she never had any and tried to keep her younger siblings out of their mom’s way.
Her therapist had been trying to get her to start recognizing she had needs too, but old habits died hard. She was doing it again – trying to be helpful to the dragons who’d hijacked her soul, dragged her to another galaxy to an abandoned space city, and then left her there with no food and water and no way to know if they were ever coming back.
The worst part! Hammy was hungry and thirsty and even though he could understand her words and knew it wasn’t her fault, he didn’t understand why anyone would do this to him. It broke her heart that she couldn’t feed him, give him his treats, and let him snuggle against her legs while they slept.
Yep, no doubt about it, Sara was almost getting a little bit annoyed. A classic Sara underreaction.
Then she looked down and remembered she wasn’t even wearing shoes, and for whatever reason, that was the thing that pushed her over the edge.
In the snap of a finger, her refusal to become irritated gave way to rage that had nowhere to go. Tears spilled down her cheeks as her fists clenched. She punched the side of one of the raised crop beds over and over until her fist was raw and bruised, then she kicked at it, embracing the pain it caused. She screamed bloody murder at the stupid dull sun crystal that wasn’t putting out enough heat to keep her warm, then she sat down with her back against the hard cold metal and made fists so tight her fingernails drew blood on her palms. She rocked back and forth, banging her elbows into the metal behind her over and over. After a while, the lightning storms in her nervous system died down, and she just sat there, spent.
It had been a long time since she’d had one of these meltdowns.
She saw Hammy peering at her from a safe distance, eyes wide. She patted her lap and he snuggled in. He started purring and making little biscuits with his paws. “I’m mad too,” he said. “And I’m scared. I don’t like it here. Nothing smells like anything I know and I feel lost and there are no good places to hide.”
Sara looked up at the skyline of buildings in the distance. “I don’t know how far it is, but we should go see what’s there. Maybe there’s some water or something to eat.”
Hammy peeked up over her shoulder. “Yeah, good idea. Maybe there’s mice or something.”
They walked for… a long time. Sara’s cell phone battery had died at some point so she had no way of knowing how long, but it was long enough that her feet were blistered. As they got close, one building stood out. It was a multi-story thing that looked fancier than the rest. Though it was more squared than a traditional castle it had two parapets with crenellations, and unlike a castle, it was made of metal and had a lot of windows. Sara could make out a little door that had been left open, so they aimed for it.
As they got closer, they could see the main door was big enough that it would have worked for Etta and Bodran in their giant humanoid form. The door handles were almost too high for Sara to reach, but set inside the large door was a smaller one that looked like it was made for someone about human height. It had been forced open. A crowbar-like tool made of the same metal as the floor of the spacecraft sat on the floor next to it.
Sara picked Hammy up and they stepped inside. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust.
“Oh, god, Hammy,” she said. “What happened to them?”
The room looked like some kind of massive industrial kitchen. Most of the dinnerware was too big for the dead people that lay everywhere, but the kitchen itself seemed to be sized right for them to use it. They were alien, about human sized, but their arms were extra-long, and instead of having ribcages, their chests were solid bony plates with a ridge. They each had a series of horns that ran in a row along each side of the top of their heads. Their clothes were all but disintegrated. Some were small, like children. Most sat huddled, clutching one another. There were empty containers littering the floor labeled with writing Sara had never seen.
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“This is bad,” Sara said. “I think they starved to death.”
Hammy let out a pitiful mewl.
Sara and Hammy continued exploring the building and found more bodies everywhere. There was an empty room with nothing but shelves … probably a pantry. Most of the rooms seemed to be furnished for people about the size Etta and Bodran were, and there were stepstools everywhere, presumably to allow the smaller aliens to access things.
In the most lavish room, a pair of giant humanoid skeletons sat on opposite ends of an enormous table. The larger of the two was nearly as tall as Etta and had a dagger embedded to the hilt in one eye. The smaller of the two was at least a foot shorter than Bodran and had a dagger through the chin and up into the brain. They didn’t look like they’d woken up or struggled. Some of the smaller alien bodies were arranged around them in prostrate poses, like they’d died in the act of worship.
Sara caught a flash of light inside the ribcage of the larger body. She dragged a stepstool over and peered inside. She could assume these were dragons in empyrean form and she was surprised by how similar bone structure was. There had to be some kind of connection between dragons and humans. Given that humans evolved on Earth, a connection to a species in another galaxy was insane. Maybe it was a coincidence. Infinite galaxy and infinite possibilities, right?
But on the other hand, dragons existed in some form in a lot of different Earth mythologies.
“Well, what is it?” Hammy said.
Sara realized she’d gone into one of her ‘deep thought freezes.’ She reached in and pulled out what looked like a gemstone covered in some kind of circuitry.
A message popped up in her vision.
“Draconic soul detected. Hostility to Wyrmhole Empire detected. Compatibility confirmed. Would you like absorb Modified Dragon Core ESK1?”
Sara almost fell off the stepstool. What the hell is a modified dragon core and why would I want to absorb it,” she thought.
A message popped up answering her question.
Modified Dragon Core ESK1 is a unique item crafted by the Eskil race for the wyrmhole queen known as Imperial Princess Gorskaria by their ruling planetary AI, ESK0 in return for her promise to never reveal the existence of their solar system to the Wyrmhole Empire.
The reason you would want to absorb it is that it would link you to the unique modified Wyrmcraft Core ESK1A that controls this vessel and allow you to use your ability to create Wyrmholes to pilot this craft.
In addition, absorbing a core would grant you access to your natural affinities for the purpose of using the secondary layer of energy that permeates the universe; an energy known to dragonkind as magic.
In addition, it would give you access to a database.
In addition, it would give you the ability to translate any spoken or written communication in the database into language known to you.
In addition, it would give you the ability to see your position on a map of every location you and Princess Gorskaria have had knowledge of.
In addition, it would grant access to Princess Gorskaria’s experiences after core modification. This access would be uploaded in small packets in response to relevant queries as a full upload would result in insanity.
Additional advantages exist, but it would be impractical to list them all. Additional queries will reveal additional data.
Sara’s eyes widened. On the surface this seemed like exactly what she needed to gain some leverage and get some agency in dealing with her new dragon soulmates. But there had to be some drawbacks.
She thought another question at ESK1. What are the disadvantages of absorbing this modified core?
Any attempt to reveal the existence or location of the Eskil planetary system, directly or indirectly, to anyone allied with the Wyrmhole Empire, will detonate your core. The resulting explosion would incinerate everything within a 113.749362 mile radius, assuming there are no additional fissionable materials within that space.
Sara swallowed. It was a doozy, but easily avoided. She was all but decided now, but she needed to know something else before she committed.
Who killed Princess Gorskaria and why? Did it have anything to do with Eskil or her modified core? And why did everyone else here die?
Princess Gorskaria and her consort, Laugust, were murdered by Soulbi, the bondmate of Princess Ziedda, a queen from one of Empress Utel’s younger clutches who desired the position of First Daughter of the Empire. None of the plans for the dissolution of the Empire made by Princess Gorskaria and ESK0 were ever communicated. It is therefore unlikely that Princess Gorskaria’s demise was in any way related to Eskil.
The remaining inhabitants of Wyrmcraft ESK1A died of starvation due to an inability to access their craft’s core after the demise of Princess Gorskaria. There were no compatible candidates for core ESK1 absorption. The problem was not apparent to the wyrmcraft engineers as ordinary wyrmcraft do not have cores. When it became apparent the craft was useless, all living dragons evacuated, leaving the population of Vailen servants behind to die. They survived for 205.347988 of your Earth years before the diminishing power of the sun crystal caused crop failure, and then for an additional 3.529286 of your Earth years after that. The last of them broke into the palace and found additional food, but since their digestive systems were not compatible with the proteins and sugars found in draconic food, it did not extend their lives.
That’s monstrous! Sara said. They just left them to die?
Yes. Note: You seem to share altruistic personality traits with Princess Gorskaria that are not common in those with Draconic souls. ESK0 approves and hopes that you will take up Princess Gorskaria’s cause when you have obtained sufficient power. ESK0 would like me to warn you that any attempt to subvert the Empire at this time would result in your death and advises that you ‘lay low’ and gain power for now. ESK0 is willing to facilitate you in this goal.
“What did you find?” Hammy said. “Is it edible?”
“It’s not edible,” Sara said, “But I think it might be just what we need to gain a little bit of power in our relationship with our new dragon soulmates.”
“I would like to absorb modified core ESK1,” Sara stated.
