9 – Beware of the Dragon

“People of…”

What is the name of this place? Quick! She asked Aury mentally.

Porcellania, your grace. Aury’s mental voice resounded in Ashley’s mind.

Some people coughed in the distance. A dry, hacking sound that echoed off the walls and died.

“People of Porcellania.”

She let the name settle. Then she found her footing.

“Sometimes life takes you to unexpected places. I never wanted to become someone important. I wanted strength. Power. Progress. Recognition never interested me. No leaderboard has my name on it by choice.”

The square was deathly silent. The air had gone so still she could hear every shift in every person’s movements. Even the baby had stopped crying.

“Someone took that from me. They took my face and my name. They used them to burn everything you loved. I don’t know who. I don’t know why. But I am going to find out.”

A man in the third row lifted his head. Just slightly. His jaw was still set, his eyes wary, but he was looking at her now. The dirt was no longer his focus. An old woman beside him followed. Then another. And another. A slow tide rising.

The air changed. It was the shift that happens before a storm: a sudden, charged stillness. The crowd held its breath at once. Ashley grabbed the moment before it could slip.

“I know what you lost. I know what was taken. And I know that right now, ‘hope’ feels like a word from a language you no longer speak.”

At the edge of the crowd, Simon gave a single, slow nod.

“I can feel the doubt and fear moving through all of you like a current. I am here to tell you that fear has a place. But together, we can fight it and send it back where it came from.”

Now. I need a finisher.

She reached back into her memory. She pulled out a memory from a world that felt a million miles away and made it her own.

“A day may come when we stop fighting. When grief becomes too heavy and we lay down what little we have left. But look around you.”

She drew herself to her full height. Ashley’s voice dropped into a register she hadn’t used before. Resonant, it came from somewhere deeper than her chest, vibrating in the stone beneath their feet.

“It is not this day!”

The silence held for one heartbeat. Then someone in the back rose to their feet. Then two more. The sound began as a low murmur and swelled. It climbed the walls, bouncing off stone and coming back twice as loud. The roar pressed against her from every direction at once.

Ashley stood perfectly still inside it.

That worked. I can’t believe that actually worked.

It was masterful, your holiness. Truly.

The halo practically hummed with warmth. She could feel Aury glowing inside it like a coal.

If I may ask, though… who is this ‘Aragorn’ you were thinking of? That last part…

A fellow quite obsessed with rings and stuff. It’s not important now.

Ashley forced her body to move forward. The crowd split down the middle as she walked, and Agata and Simon fell in close behind.

Keep a straight face, Ash. Hold it together. Keep walking.

When she reached the edge of the square, she turned back. The five healed patients had emerged from the temple. Their voices joined the roar of the villagers. Sunlight caught the stained glass above them, restored.

Celestine stared down at her with a serene smile.

“I hope it was the right thing to do.” Simon’s murmur was barely audible under the din.

“It was. I can feel it,” Agata whispered. She squeezed his arm, her fingers lingering on the sleeve of his robe.

“Okay. Which way now?” Ashley asked.

“This way. It isn’t far,” Agata said, while Simon looked at her with renewed vigor. He stepped to the front of the small group. His posture was straighter than it had been an hour ago, his shoulders pulled back.

As they wound through the narrow, dusty streets, Ashley’s heart settled into its normal rhythm. Her breathing leveled out. With the adrenaline fading, a question she’d been avoiding finally surfaced. But that restraint was eating her from inside.

So, Aury. You said you are a ‘he’. Is your name short for something?

Yes, mistress. Aureola. An archaic word meaning ‘Crown of Gold,’ or halo. Aury for friends… and, of course, for your holiness. The familiar explained.

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I see. And do you have other transformations, like the one from the temple?

A few. But not at the moment. Your core is not dense enough yet. I have no doubt I will be able to show you some of them one day.

Her curiosity finally satisfied, she realised they had stepped into a narrow, shadowed alley.

Simon and Agata halted before a weathered red door hung with bundles of dried, shriveled flowers. A scent reached her first: sweet, cloying, and tipping toward rotten. It hang in the stagnant air.

Then something else arrived. A prickle crawled across her skin. It was low and oily, a hum that set her nerves on edge. She hadn’t felt anything like it in this world yet.

Better be prepared. She checked her mana pool; it had replenished enough for some minor protection spells.

Better safe than sorry.

She pushed her intention into the space surrounding her body. [Arcane Protection]. [Mundane Protection].

The mana wove into a double helix of runes, tight against her skin. It felt like a fine layer of cool silk wrapping around her limbs, settling quiet and invisible. It was enough to hold with minimal concentration. The choice avoided the risk of offending an NPC with an obvious show of paranoia.

More importantly, the upkeep cost less than she regenerated per minute. She could hold both indefinitely and still have room to breathe.