[CEDRIC ASHVALE'S POV]
Pain.
That was the first thing I felt; it wasn't sharp nor burning, it was like my entire body had been shocked by lightning multiple times, and I couldn't even remember how my body moved. My chest rose with effort with each shallow breath, as air moved to my lungs through sandpaper.
Slowly, I opened my eyes to a white stone ceiling with rune-etched pillars.
The infirmary, I thought.
I heard the door open as a figure walked in.
"You're finally awake", said a voice from the side.
Janice. She made her way to me and sat beside the bed, mana lenses hovering faintly around her eyes. Her expression was composed, professional—but there were lines of strain there I hadn't seen before.
Looking at her face, my throat felt dry as I asked.
"How long was I ….?
"Three days, you gave all of us quite a scare, Mara especially"
"The duke personally stayed by your side and overlooked your recovery; he only left when you were stable"
I smiled.
She pursed her lips as she said.
"The egg hatched," she said. "Violently."
I already knew that. I was there when the egg exploded, and a small black winged creature emerged.
"Felix?" The name came out familiar, instinctive. I hadn't consciously chosen it before—but it felt right, like a truth my body already knew.
Janice noticed.
"Yes, the wyvern… Felix is alive"
Relief surged through me; atleast he isn't dead.
Still, I knew the bad news was just around the corner.
"…but?"
She looked at me and repeated.
"Felix is alive, stable and unconscious. For now,"
The pause that followed was deliberate.
"He's also damaged."
The word hit harder than any blow.
I tried to sit up, but my body felt weak and sluggish. So, I tried to channel mana, and pain instantly flared in my mana core, electricity coursing through my veins.
Janice placed a firm hand on my shoulder as she pushed me down. "You cannot move yet, and don't try to channel mana. Your mana pathways are still compromised."
"Compromised, what exactly does that mean for me?" I asked.
"Yes," she said firmly. "Compromised; strained. Scarred in places, but they'll recover in due time—mostly."
I exhaled slowly. "Tell me everything without sugarcoating it"
Janice pulled a chair closer and sat. When she spoke this time, her voice sounded calm, detached, as though we were discussing the weather.
"Felix's mana core is fractured," she said. "Not destroyed, but unstable. Imagine a vessel meant to circulate mana freely—now cracked, leaking, unable to store mana properly or naturally draw from the environment."
My eyes widened as I processed what she said. "He can't absorb mana…"
"Yes. And that changes everything."
She gestured, and a projection formed between us—an abstract representation of a beast's mana cycle.
"Normally, beasts absorb ambient mana instinctively," she explained. "It sustains them, fuels growth, repairs damage and when bonded, some of that mana can even be shared with their tamer slowly within proper channels".
She altered the projection. Cracks spread through the core.
"Felix cannot initiate that loop."
My jaw tightened. "So, the bond—"
"—is inverted," she finished. "You are supplying mana to him."
That's not normal," I said, shocked.
"No," Janice agreed. "It's life support."
The words landed heavily.
"You can sustain him," she continued. "Keep his core from collapsing further. But you cannot make him stronger. You cannot heal the fracture."
I clenched my hands. "Then how does he heal?"
Janice didn't answer immediately.
"He must consume external mana directly," she said. "Dense mana. Concentrated."
I looked at her sharply.
"You mean—"
"Other beasts," she said. "Their mana cores."
For a moment, the room was so silent I could hear my heart beating.
"That's… natural," she added quickly. "For wyverns and many higher beasts, hunting is everyday life to them—it's survival."
"But he's so young and in no state to hunt."
"No," Janice said. "Not yet, but as soon as possible, he must hunt"
Silence stretched between us.
"And me?" I asked. "What happens to me while I'm… feeding him?"
She met my eyes.
"Your reserves will always feel shallow," she said. "You will recover more slowly. You will hit limits faster."
I let out a slow breath. "Because my mana is being siphoned."
"Yes."
"And because," she added, "your mana has changed quite a bit."
I frowned, "Changed? How was that possible? I don't feel any different."
Janice waved her hand as another projection appeared beside the beast projection.
"Unlike humans, beast mana is denser and purer and quite rigid. As beasts normally don't streamline or refine mana, it aligns more closely to the world mana"
"In comparison, human mana is flexible. Impure—not as an insult, but as a fact. It carries emotional residue, intent, and adaptation. That's why humans can learn so many paths."
My stomach tightened as I understood where this was going.
"The forced binding ritual we initiated didn't require consent, either of your wills; it was basically a guaranteed bond provided you were strong enough, Cedric, so even though the bond wasn't formed perfectly, a resonance lock was created when the beast hatched."
"To survive, the Felix diverted the expelled mana from the cracked core that he wasn't able to sustain, and in that process, beast mana surged through your channels. Non-filtered, non-moderated."
I remembered the pain—the burning pressure.
"That backflow damaged you," she continued. "Your channels weren't designed to process purity at that level."
"So now…" I hesitated.
"Now your mana is partially refined, enough to make you stable and sustain Felix completely for the time being."
That explained the wrongness I felt, the constant tension, like my mana didn't quite belong in my body anymore.
"Will it normalise?" I asked.
"Yes, eventually, when it does, you will be ready to fight, and Felix will need to hunt"
That left me confused about what to hope for.
The door opened again.
I turned my head—and froze.
My father, along with Mara, stood in the doorway.
Janice stood immediately. "Your Grace."
Mara, without any regard to decorum, rushed to my side and hugged me
"Thank goodness, you're awake"
I smiled and said," I'm fine now, Mara"
Immediately realising what she had done, she turned. " Forgive me, your grace, I forgot myself in the moment"
He nodded once and approached the bedside.
"How do you feel?" he asked.
"Like I was trampled by something large and angry," I replied honestly.
That earned a faint, humourless smile.
"I should not have given you that egg," he said quietly.
The words stunned me.
"Father—", I began.
"No," he said, raising a hand. "You need to hear it. I made a decision based on tradition and pride, and with the ritual, I believed preparation would outweigh the risk. I did not anticipate this outcome, neither for you nor the beast."
"No," I protested, "it wasn't your fault."
"It is I who approved the ritual, though I knew there would be a price to pay—I underestimated the cost"
I reached out and gripped his sleeve weakly.
"I wish it had gone differently, not for me but for the wyvern, Felix, but I don't regret it. I would still choose this again."
He held my gaze for a long moment—then nodded once, sharply, as if sealing something painful away.
"The Imperial Academy opens in eight months," he said. "You will need that time to recover."
Eight months.
It sounded both close and impossibly far.
"Rest," he ordered quietly. "Both of you."
And he turned and left, as I watched him go.
"I'll also take my leave, Lord Cedric", Janice said
"Sure, thank you for everything, Janice"
Janice smiled, and she too left. Soon, it was only Mara and me.
Mara placed her hand on my head.
"You need to rest too.", she said softly
But I knew what worried her.
"I didn't mean to scare you like that, Mara"
"I know, and now that you're ok, let's focus on getting you better"
I smiled, and then a thought struck me.
"Mara, where's Felix?"
"Felix?"
"My familiar"
"Oh! You've already named him. Like you, he's been unconscious ever since he hatched. They didn't move him from the ritual chamber, and Janice put a healing barrier around him to make sure he's safe and alive, but it seems like the healing has little effect"
"Now enough questions rest and recover your strength first, you'll see him when you're able to walk properly"
I nodded and closed my eyes. Slowly, sleep took me into its embrace.
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AN: Everyone, I need your encouragement, comment and review