"What is it that comes after?" Neveah asked warily, her right hand inching closer to her dagger which she had secured back to its sheath at her waist.

Somehow, Neveah could sense Lord Skiren’s countenance was different, there was something odd about his tone and the look in his eyes.

His words were also strange, Neveah had arrived at the heart of the Ever-burn cave and now he claimed the trial was only about to begin?

Then all Neveah had just endured were what exactly? Neveah could not understand it.

Neveah still had not learnt to trust, it was one thing Neveah did not think she even wanted to learn.

The only reason Neveah had survived up till this moment was because she knew to be wary of everyone and everything.

And the only reason she had once faced death was because she made the grave mistake of turning her back to someone.

Against all odds, that someone was a person Neveah trusted at the time, and trust had died in Neveah’s heart on that day...or at least Neveah would have liked to believe it had.

Any words or behavior Neveah could not understand made her wary and she currently had no idea what Lord Skiren’s meaning or intention was.

"A rider must first undergo the five trials, this much is true. At some point in training, what comes beyond the five trials would then be made known to the rider."

"When that point will be is determined according to the rider’s ability, I deem that point to be this very moment and so I shall tell you what comes after."

"First comes the five trials and afterwards, the three mergings... that is the way of the dragons." Lord Skiren replied.

"Mergings? I have not heard of that... what does it mean?" Neveah asked uncertainly, her hand still rested on the hilt of her dagger as Lord Skiren took another step forward.

Master Maloway, Lord Rodrick and even the dragon king, they had all made mention of the five trials but no one had said anything of a merging.

Neveah retreated backwards warily, maintaining a safe distance from the jade dragon who kept moving closer to her for no apparent reason.

It was highly unlikely Lord Skiren would harm Neveah at this point but Neveah was not willing to take any chances...most of the dragons she had met were not very kind people.

"A rider is not one in name alone, but in the entirety of their being. One must fully bond a dragon through the three mergings, this is no task... only a duty."

"The three mergings; The merging of fire, the merging of blood and the merging of soul."

"The merging of fire refines the body, all true riders must be insusceptible to fire. To bond a dragon, one must be refined with fire so your body is prepared to accept his fire." Lord Skiren explained.

"You mean... I must be refined with fire to merge with Menarx’s flame?" Neveah asked.

"Did you believe a rider would only need to learn of flight and battle? A dragon is a beast of fire, a dragon rider must be his perfect match... this means you must also know fire in all it’s power and beauty."

"You must know it and you must become one with it." Lord Skiren made clear.

"Only after your body is refined can you bear to merge with dragon flame, especially a flame as fierce as Menarx’s. You do know of Menarx’s heritage, don’t you?" Lord Skiren asked.

Neveah recalled it, Menarx had said he was a Northern dragon and he had also told Neveah that the flames of the Northern dragons were the most feared.

"North’s End is his place of birth, he is a Northern dragon and Northern dragons breathe the hottest flames." Neveah replied.

Lord Skiren nodded in approval of Neveah’s knowledge.

"Though Menarx’s flame recognizes you, you cannot touch it much less be one with it...it will burn you up from within to without till all that is left of you is ash." Lord Skiren deadpanned.

"Oh..." Neveah murmured, her hand falling back to her side as she was once again assured Lord Skiren meant her no harm.

"According to your words, the five trials come before the three mergings."

"That means there is an order to it, right? I will prepare for the merging by my fifth trial?" Neveah asked to be certain.

"For every rider, the time of their merging is unique to them. The merging is granted when you are deemed ready."

"For all riders who live and breathe in the Stronghold, the one who determines this is the Jade dragon... and I say your merging of fire will be granted on this very day." Lord Skiren declared.

Neveah blinked in astonishment, it was already established that she was undergoing the first trial at a time when she was completely unprepared having just entered the academy.

This was already a grave injustice being done to her and Neveah could only oblige to the will of the Dragon King, but this merging had not been a part of the plan at all. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Could it be... perhaps, His Grace ordered this?" Neveah asked slowly.

Lord Skiren raised a brow at Neveah’s question before he shook his head slightly.

"The only one who can order the merging of fire for any rider all across the Asvarian Stronghold is I...not even My Liege can give such an order." Lord Skiren said.

"Why then have you decided to have me face a merging now? Whatever it is, I assume it is left for the final trial because it cannot be easily faced." Neveah asked.

"This is true, the merging of fire is an excruciatingly painful affair. You are not a creature of fire, to force fire within your veins would be more painful than death."

"Riders are taught to face the pain of the mergings in the course of their training and trials, this could take years or decades even before one is ready."

"Lady Kaliana was granted the merging of fire two years after her second trial and Lady Misha was granted the merging on her third trial. These two are the shortest time duration of all the riders." Lord Skiren gave a honest response.

Neveah sucked in a breath at Lord Skiren’s words, it was nothing less than what she had already expected.

"Then why me? Why now? I have only been a rider for a few days." Neveah pointed out the obvious.

"The time it took Lady Kaliana to be granted her merging of fire was as much time as it took her to understand the meaning of the most important duty of the King’s guard." Lord Skiren began.

"The same goes for Lady Misha and for every other rider. But this is a duty you already understand, young rider." Lord Skiren said.

Neveah’s brows furrowed in confusion, she knew nothing about the most important duty of the King’s guard, not to speak of understanding it.

"What duty do I understand?" Neveah asked.

"Before that, are you aware of what race the only two riders to have been on the reigning King’s guard are?" Lord Skiren asked.

Neveah fell quiet, she had never truly taught about it but now that Lord Skiren mentioned it, the Asvarian Stronghold was home to many different races.

Neveah had only seen the riders as just that, dragon riders. She had not thought beyond that to the fact that not all these riders would be human, just like Lady Adrienne’s sister was a rider yet a royal born fairy.

"No... I have no idea." Neveah replied honestly.

"Give it another thought, you are a wolf shifter. You should be able to tell." Lord Skiren encouraged.

Neveah thought back to the few times she had met Lady Kaliana, although there was not much to go on since Neveah had only met Lady Kaliana once after her childbirth.

Neveah recalled Lady Kaliana’s scent was hard to discern since it bore traces of Lord Imagor’s scent but even thinking hard on it, Neveah had not noticed anything out of ordinary.

Lady Kaliana’s scent was that of a human just like Davina’s.

"I am not sure, Lady Kaliana seems human. There are no distinctive features that suggest she is of another race..." Neveah replied, trailing off at the end since she was not so sure.

"But for a human, she is far more alert and her body constitution is stronger. She survived losing so much blood and was able to bear through such intense pain of forced labor for days."

"She is a human that is far stronger than a regular human, and it has nothing to do with her bond with Lord Imagor... she just..." Neveah trailed off then as she recalled something.

’Davina had once told us there were two different mortal races in the Asvarian Stronghold.’ Neveah’s wolf reminded her.

’A true mortal which are the humans we know back in the Eclipse Domain and those mortals who have Asvarian blood flowing through their veins.’ Neveah completed her wolf’s thought.