Villain Awakening: Rising to the Strongest Dragon God-Chapter 51: Dragon Pact

Six hours earlier...

Borin’s boots scorched earth with every step. Even as Lyra thrashed on his shoulder, fists hammering his back hard enough to bruise.

Her voice raw from screaming but she didn’t stop.

"PUT ME DOWN!"

He didn’t listen, just kept running. Distance from the excavation site increasing with each stride. In no time he was nearly a three hundred metres away.

"That’s an ORDER, Borin!"

"Can’t do that, my lady." His breathing was heavy but steady. Forty years of demon campaigns taught him how to do this. Lyra was just another one of his comrades.

She pulled at his armor straps and kicked. "I command you—take me back to him!"

"I respect his decision." Borin emphasized. "Not yours. Not on this."

Her struggles intensified but Borin’s grip didn’t loosen. After two hundred more metres. Borin saw a clearing ahead close enough to Verdant Springs that the air smelled like sulfur and salt.

He stopped, staring back before setting her down. Lyra stumbled but caught herself, and immediately turned to run back.

Borin grabbed her arm.

"No." His grip was firm and yet gentle but she definitely wasn’t going anywhere.

She yanked against his grip and her face twisted with fury and terror.

"He’s there...in that madness...we can’t just--"

Then she froze. Her free hand went to her chest. She closed her eyes. Her breathing slowed from panic to something forced and deliberate.

Their bond....Heat pulsed faint in her chest. It felt distant and struggling but it was very much alive.

"He’s alive." Her voice dropped to whisper. She was happy and yet confused.

"I can feel him. But something’s wrong. It feels... hollow. Like he’s slipping somewhere I can’t reach."

Borin released her arm. "The lad’s strong. He’ll be fine."

"You don’t know that," Lyra countered.

"Aye. I do." He said with certainty.

Lyra opened her eyes and stared toward the excavation site. Trees blocked the view but she knew exactly where he was.

"We have to go back for him."

Borin shook his head. "Madness will take you too. We wait here."

"For how long?" She asked exasperated.

"As long as it takes."

They stayed quiet. Borin’s eyes still on Lyra. He had stopped her from running away five times in the last half an hour.

Suddenly there were movements in the trees. The trees rustled as panicked breathing echoed and then six miners burst into the clearing.

Out of twenty who’d started digging, four were dead and the rest scattered. These were the ones who’d run fast enough to atleast follow Borin’s trail.

They collapsed near Lyra and Borin. Still babbling incoherenly. One kept scratching at his arms like bugs crawled under his skin.

Borin assessed quickly. Nightfall was upon them and the northern District was everything if not dangerous after dark.

Right now they were exposed with no fortifications, no shelter, just open ground and traumatized men.

"Stay here." Borin spoke specifically to Lyra while he walked to a tree line. His muscles thickened and then--

BAM

He punched a chasm into the tree. The tree didn’t fall but splited.

Borin began gathering wood. he gathered enough. He struck flint and started a campfire. He arranged the logs in a wide circle and marked a perimeter.

"Stay within the fire line." His voice cut through the miners’ panic.

"Don’t wander. Don’t leave the light. Understood?"

They nodded like puppets. Terror making them compliant.

Lyra sat at the fire’s edge facing the direction Auryn had disappeared. She stayed silent, amber eyes watching and waiting.

Her hand touched her chest every few minutes. Trying to confirm if she still felt him.

Night soon fell fully. The miners whispered nervously amongst themselves. Every sound from the forest made them flinch.

One miner suddenly stood. "I hear something In the trees."

"Sit down," Borin said without looking up.

"No, I—there’s something out there—"

The man stood and immediately he walked past the flint into the shadows.

The creature emerged before he could retreat.

GRAAAH

A massive beast emerged. It had a wolf’s head with four eyes (paired left and right) with a bear’s body rotting beneath patchy fur. It’s limbs that bent wrong with joints reversed and claws dragging dirt..

The curse didn’t just kill—it twisted, fused, broke natural law and corrupted living things. Creating abominations.

The beast roared and the sound made half the miners scatter screaming.

Taking advantage of the chaos. It lunged at the nearest miner. Its claws tore through his torso. Ripping him in two instantly as blood painted the camp lights.

Borin stood. He wasn’t panicking but his eyes carried fire. With axe already in hand.

He walked toward the beast. His motion calm like approaching a training dummy instead of a corrupted horror.

Lyra’s eyes watched as Borin approached swinging his axe in one hand while whistling. The creature saw Borin and charged.

Borin cocked his head then spat before he planted his feet.

The ground underneath him cratered slightly even while scales erupted along his forearms. Red-orange, glowing faint like coals in a dying fire.

His Dragon Pact manifesting. His eyes shifted, pupils slitting, irises burning the same red-orange as the scales.

His grip tightened on the axe and strength surged through muscle enhanced beyond any dwarf or human limits.

The beast was three meters away when Borin swung. His blade’s edge trailed with dragon fire.

it was nothing fancy or flashy. More basic than one would thing but upon impact, it tore deep into the creature’s skull.

Fire burned it from the inside out, spreading through bone and brain.

The beast released an unholy screech. Borin disappeared and appeared at the creature’s side.

He swung his axe and severed the head completely. The body collapsed turning into ash instantly.

The chaos died down as Borin wiped his axe on grass. The scales faded from his arms like they’d never been there and eyes returned to normal brown.

He turned to the miners with a cold expression.

"Drag the body outside the fire line. Blood draws more."

Lyra had watched the entire fight. She’d tried to help. Wanted to activate her silver flame, call it like she had when the bond awakened.

She’d focused, willed it, reached for that cold-hot power. Silver light sparked across her palms for half a second but then it vanished.

She was quite frustrated about the whole ordeal but she let it go. They had Borin.

Speaking of the dwarf. He sat by the fire again. His composure intact like he hadn’t just killed a monster thrice his size.

"What was that?" Lyra asked. "Your arms. The scales."

"My dragon Pact. Partial transformation." He stoked the fire with a stick. "All contracted dragons get it at wyrm (Rank 3)"

"But you didn’t... fully transform. Into a dragon."

"I can’t." He answered simply. "I’m neither pure-blooded, nor dragon nobility."

Lyra leaned forward. "What’s the difference?"

Borin looked at his arms where scales had been moments ago. Now just weathered skin and old scars.

"Dragon pacts have ranks. Seven of them."

"Rank 1: Flameling. You awaken fire but can’t do much."

"Rank 2: Drake. Your scales and claws appear. Breath starts forming. That’s where the Lord Auryn is now."

"Rank 3: Wyrm. Where I am." He held up his arms. "Partial transformation. Increase in strength with fire enhancement---

--but I can’t go full dragon. Even if I reach Dragon(Rank 4) someday. My bloodline won’t allow it."

Lyra processed this. "Because you’re contracted with a dragon pact. Not born with it."

"Aye." Borin nodded. "Pure bloods like him..they are dragons, born with royal blood. We borrow power from the Dragon God through contracts. The princes own it."

The crackling fire between them filled the silence.

"I awakened Silver Flame." Lyra’s voice was quieter now.

"But I can’t... I tried to use it just now. Against that creature. Nothing happened. Well—almost nothing."

Borin looked at her. "Awakening is not mastery. You’ve got the spark. That’s the rarest and hardest part. The rest is just training. With time you’ll learn."

"How long?"

"Depends. Might take months or years." He shrugged.

"But you’ll get there. I’ve seen it before."

Lyra stared at her hands. Remembered the brief flicker of silver and also the inferno that saved Auryn.

She’d learn...she had to.

Mid-conversation, Lyra gasped, hand clutched her chest.

"He’s fading." She whispered.

Borin was alert immediately. "What?"

Lyra stared at nothing, feeling through the connection that tied her to Auryn across distance and dimension.

"He’s alive, still alive but something’s wrong "

Borin’s expression was grim but he didn’t panic.

"He’s fighting something. Let’s trust him," he said openly but worried inwardly.

Lyra nodded. But fear was visible in the way her hand pressed tighter against her chest. Like she could hold the bond in place through will alone.

What she didn’t know. Crixus had pulled Auryn deeper into the mindscape. The bond stretching thin across realms.

But it didn’t break.

---

Eastern Province. Castor’s castle.

A messenger arrived in the courtyard.

"My lord." He bowed to Castor.

"Reports from locals near Verdant Springs. Third Prince Auryn was sighted entering Ashen Grove with miners."

Castor looked up from the map on his desk. "Ashen Grove? That cursed land?"

"Aye, my lord. No army escort. Just laborers and two companions."

Castor stood slowly. His mind worked through possibilities.

Ashen Grove. Why there? What’s he digging for? I can arrive... intercept him. See what he’s planning.

Castor looked at the messenger. "Tell the captain to mobilize fifty men. We ride before morning light."

The guard hesitated. Fifty fully armed soldiers to greet a prince seemed excessive but he didn’t dare question his lord.

"As you wish my Lord"

Castor’s expression was unreadable. The guard bowed and left even as Castor’s hand rested on his sword hilt.

---

Back at the camp...

The light of dawn emerged but Lyra hadn’t slept. Still sat by the extinguished fire, watching the direction Auryn had disappeared hours ago.

Borin hadn’t slept either. Stayed on watch all night. Someone had to.

Suddenly—Lyra gasped. She touched her chest as the bond surged.

"He’s back." She spoke with both shock and relief. She stood and stared toward the excavation site and immediately rushed there.

AURYN!!!!