41. Arcady: The Monster

Summary

• The protagonist is losing their magic because of a dragon, who sits poised and glorious. Although they try to hold onto their magic, it continues to flow out of them.
• Other dragons appear from a storm, including one that resembles Everen, who flies towards them. The dragons struggle against the storm, before being pulled back into it, revealing a potential threat to everything in their path.
• The protagonist feels a sensation of hunger and pain as their magic continues to drain. They fall into a hallucination or nightmare that takes them back to a time when they nearly died of a disease known as the Strike.
• In the nightmare, they relive a traumatic experience from their childhood when they were twelve. They were in a cottage on the verge of death due to a dragon bone shard stabbed into their sternum. They experience their parents arguing about how to save them.
• The protagonist also recounts a memory of their mother transforming into a terrifying being with dark marks and a wrong kind of magic. When they wake up from their fever, they find their father dead and their mother barely alive, revealing the secret of the Plaguebringer's seal.
• During these hallucinations, they recall their past in Vatra, stealing and being alone. They realize that Everen has been with them far before their magical connection during the Night of Locked Tombs, indicating their deep bond.
• Meanwhile, the dragons continue to battle with dark smoke-like entities, which drag them back into the storm. This fight goes on, representing a mythical battle of gods versus chaos.
• In the midst of all this, the protagonist manages to catch a drop of magic but then they lose consciousness again. The chapter ends with them not recalling what happens next.