- 10 hours ago
Fated to the Ancient Wyrm New 20 Eps
Category
馃帴
Short filmTranscript
00:00This familiar scene is exactly the same as in the previous life.
00:04The sky outside turned the color of a wound.
00:08A lichen lord, in his full power, in human form.
00:12But how did the person in his arms become my sister?
00:15In my previous life, on the day of the sacred bonding rite,
00:20my sister chose the phoenix.
00:22She left the bear shifter, the one nobody wanted.
00:26It was fate.
00:28A cast-off for a beast.
00:31Instead, I saved a lichen lord by accident.
00:35He took me as his queen.
00:37After the bonding, I bore five heirs for the lichen bloodline,
00:42a clan that had gone generations without children.
00:45I became a legend across the realm beyond.
00:48My sister, bonded to the phoenix, was cast out for barrenness.
00:54I came home with my youngest.
00:55My sister poisoned my bowl.
00:58Me and my child both.
01:09When I woke, it was the day of the rite again.
01:14Everyone present is a worthy son of their bloodline.
01:19Choose freely.
01:21The hall filled with glances, with quiet negotiations between bodies and bloodlines.
01:27I didn't want any of it.
01:28In my last life, childbirth had nearly killed me.
01:32I wasn't doing it again.
01:34I stood alone.
01:36Then the doors blew open.
01:38Time returns to the present.
01:40And for some reason, my sister has taken my husband from my previous life.
01:48Vivienne saved my life.
01:51From this day forward, she is my true mate.
01:54A lichen lord choosing one of ours.
01:57Choosing her as first and only.
02:00It hadn't happened in living memory.
02:02I knew then.
02:03She'd been reborn too.
02:06Now I looked at her.
02:07Draped against the lichen lord.
02:09Already victorious.
02:10She thought she'd won.
02:12She hadn't thought through what it would cost her.
02:15Lichen lords are of the fire element.
02:17Their mates sleep in fire.
02:19Eat fire-aspected food.
02:21For a bloodline like ours, cold-aspected by nature, that's not a marriage.
02:26It's a slow execution.
02:28Last time, I had no choice but to pretend to like it.
02:31Every day.
02:32I smiled through the sacred fire walks.
02:35Through the meals that felt like swallowing colds.
02:37By the time I was pregnant, my core was already cracked.
02:41The children drew what was left.
02:43Vivienne was cold-aspected too.
02:45She just didn't know what she'd agreed to yet.
02:48The whole heap celebrated.
02:51Every un-mated girl in the Order delayed her own bonding to help prepare Vivienne's.
02:57The gift list ran ten feet long.
03:00The High Lord nearly emptied the sanctuary's vaults.
03:04I was the only un-mated woman left.
03:07That made me the obvious choice for handmaid.
03:11Vivienne stood over me and smiled.
03:14Before you were the Elder, I deferred to you.
03:18How does this feel, sister?
03:21I said nothing.
03:23Ha!
03:23That look.
03:26You'll get used to it.
03:27The High Lord has already agreed.
03:29You belong to me now.
03:31I'll hit you when I want.
03:34Praise you when I want.
03:36You have no say.
03:38Start learning.
03:40A courier arrived from the Lycan Lord.
03:43A red and gold cloak.
03:46Light as feathers.
03:47Fire-resistant.
03:49Enchanted for speed.
03:51Vivienne touched it with both hands.
03:53I knew that cloak.
03:55For fire-aspected bloodlines, it was a treasure.
03:59For cold-aspected bloodlines, it was a punishment.
04:04I'd worn it every day of my first marriage.
04:07It had carved away at my core for years.
04:11Vivienne would find that out eventually.
04:14Then a girl came running.
04:15Fire on the back mountain!
04:18What an awful omen.
04:20Today of all days.
04:22I didn't wait.
04:23I ran.
04:24The mountain was burning hard when I arrived.
04:28Black smoke.
04:29Screaming from inside the tree line.
04:32The elders stood at the edge and wouldn't move.
04:35That fire belongs to a Lycan Lord.
04:39We interfere, we offend him.
04:42Your sister's bonding is today.
04:44Don't make trouble.
04:45You'll rank felonities.
04:49I looked at him for a long moment.
04:51Then I went in.
04:54The smoke blinded me fast.
04:56The fire took my fur.
04:59But I was cold-aspected.
05:01Wherever I moved, frost spread behind me.
05:05It slowed the flames enough to matter.
05:11But I can't stop this fire with my own strength.
05:15I remembered what my foster mother taught me.
05:19Clear a line.
05:20Deny the fire somewhere to go.
05:22I shifted to full form and called out.
05:26Wolf.
05:27Eagle.
05:28Tiger.
05:29Bear.
05:30They came.
05:32They carried ice-hardened vessels in their jaws.
05:35An elephant used its trunk.
05:38Ants and mantises worked the fire breaks.
05:41We were losing.
05:43Then we weren't.
05:44Then the mountains shook.
05:46The ground split open.
05:48A dragon came out of it.
05:50Black.
05:52Ancient.
05:53Large enough to block the sun.
05:56He opened his mouth and it rained.
05:59The fire died.
06:01The dragon's voice didn't come from one direction.
06:04It came from everywhere.
06:08This mountain is mine.
06:11Who lit it?
06:12The elders said nothing.
06:14A thousand years in this valley.
06:16And nobody had thought to check whether something older already lived here.
06:20Then Vivienne pointed at me.
06:22Ash everywhere.
06:23Burned fire.
06:24It had to be her.
06:25Every eye turned.
06:27Charred.
06:28Bleeding in two places.
06:29The same hands that had just spent an hour fighting the fire.
06:32I was certain someone would say it.
06:34Any of them.
06:35They'd all seen me run in.
06:37The elder looked at me for a long time.
06:39Then he knelt.
06:42The dragon's sovereign.
06:44Our wayward daughter did this.
06:46She is yours to punish.
06:47We offer her freely.
06:49I stood still.
06:50Not one of them spoke for me.
06:53I had bent myself in half for these people in my last life.
06:57I had burned from the inside out.
06:59Carrying children for a clan that wasn't mine.
07:02For a man who never once made me warm.
07:05I'd done it for them.
07:06Kept them safe.
07:08Kept them proud.
07:09And now they were handing me to a dragon.
07:11To buy themselves a quite.
07:13The fire was Lyocon.
07:14Everyone here knows that.
07:15I'm cul-de-sected.
07:17How would I produce sacred flame?
07:18You're my handmaid.
07:19You had access to my husband's fire tokens.
07:21Easy enough to steal a spark.
07:23If I started it, why did I try to stop it?
07:25To look innocent.
07:26What do I have to gain?
07:28Any of it.
07:29What exactly do you think I wanted?
07:31Mara, just admit it.
07:33I'm done with this covenant.
07:34All every debt between us is settled.
07:36Enough.
07:37The girl comes with me.
07:39Whatever she is to you, she isn't anymore.
07:42When I opened them, I was somewhere else.
07:45Torchlight.
07:46Stone.
07:47A ceiling so high, I couldn't see the end of it.
07:50He was in human form.
07:51Black robes edged in gold.
07:53He sat like someone who had never once needed anything from anyone.
07:57He was watching me with something almost like amusement.
08:00He said.
08:01Go ahead.
08:02Say what you want to say.
08:04You knew.
08:05You knew the whole time what happened.
08:07Why play along with them?
08:09Because you needed a reason to leave.
08:11And my palace is considerably more comfortable than a foxhole.
08:15I thought you might prefer it.
08:16I thought about what he'd said.
08:18In my last life, he had sent me a healing stone during my labor.
08:22Only later did I understand.
08:24The mountain was his.
08:26I had defended it.
08:27He remembered.
08:28Thank you, my lord.
08:30I'll serve faithfully.
08:32Don't do it again.
08:33He looked satisfied.
08:34Do what?
08:36Throw yourself at people who aren't worth it.
08:38He tilted his head.
08:40Get dressed.
08:41We're going to watch the bonding ceremony.
08:44He handed me a gown.
08:46Black.
08:47Covered with shimmering scales.
08:49I put it on and stood beside him.
08:51And we looked like we matched.
08:52I felt my face go warm without meaning to.
08:56When I opened them, I was somewhere else.
08:58Torchlight.
08:59Stone.
09:00A ceiling so high I couldn't see the end of it.
09:03He was in human form.
09:05Black robes edged in gold.
09:07He sat like someone who had never once needed anything from anyone.
09:11He was watching me with something almost like amusement.
09:14He said.
09:15Go ahead.
09:16Say what you want to say.
09:18You knew.
09:19You knew the whole time what happened.
09:21Why play along with them?
09:23Because you needed a reason to leave.
09:25And my palace is considerably more comfortable than a foxhole.
09:29I thought you might prefer it.
09:30I thought about what he'd said.
09:32In my last life, he had sent me a healing stone during my labor.
09:36Only later did I understand.
09:38The mountain was his.
09:39I had defended it.
09:41He remembered.
09:42Thank you, my lord.
09:44I'll serve faithfully.
09:46Don't do it again.
09:47He looked satisfied.
09:48Do what?
09:50Throw yourself at people who aren't worth it.
09:52He tilted his head.
09:54Get dressed.
09:55We're going to watch the bonding ceremony.
09:58He handed me a gown.
10:00Black.
10:01Covered with shimmering scales.
10:02I put it on and stood beside him, and we looked like we matched.
10:06I felt my face go warm without meaning to.
10:09The ceremony hall blazed with firelight.
10:12Vivienne walked the red carpet on the lichen lord's arm.
10:15She looked extraordinary.
10:18She always did.
10:19Then they reached the threshold.
10:21Every lichen bonding began the same way.
10:24The new mate had to walk a path of sacred embers.
10:27The lichen lord stepped onto the embers without pausing.
10:30For him, it was nothing.
10:32Vivienne stopped cold.
10:34People noticed.
10:35He pulled her toward the embers.
10:37She dug in.
10:38The hall went quiet in that particular way that means everyone is watching, while pretending not to.
10:44He leaned in and said something low and sharp.
10:47She went white.
10:49Then she walked.
10:50The sound when the fire touched her was something I would remember.
10:55She made it through.
10:56Barely.
10:57She knelt before the clan elder with shaking hands, and held a cup of tea for half an hour, before
11:02he finally took it.
11:04After the ceremony, in the corridor outside...
11:07No mate in our head have insulted the sacred fire at her own binding.
11:12Not one.
11:13You were the first.
11:15Congratulations.
11:16He walked.
11:18Don't wait up.
11:19I had turned to leave when my foot landed on a dry branch.
11:22Vivienne spun.
11:24How are you here?
11:25Her face twisted.
11:27She lunged.
11:28Her feet, still burned, betrayed her.
11:31She went down hard.
11:32The dragon should have killed you!
11:34I touched the fabric of my new gown.
11:38He's fair-minded.
11:40He doesn't punish the innocent.
11:41I looked at her.
11:43I'm his now.
11:45You can't touch me.
11:47She grabbed my throat.
11:49Her nails drew blood.
11:52You're lying.
11:54If he wanted you, he'd be here.
11:57He wouldn't leave you alone.
11:59One more inch, and she'd have managed it.
12:01I'll kill you right now, and no one will care.
12:05The air moved.
12:08Vivienne flew sideways.
12:10She hit the wall hard enough to cough blood.
12:14A hand settled at my waist.
12:17Warm.
12:17Steady.
12:19Power moving through it, like current.
12:23The dragon sovereign said pleasantly.
12:26I'm her intended.
12:27You can call me Aldrich.
12:30Or dragon sovereign.
12:32Either works.
12:35Vivienne stared at him.
12:37You can't.
12:38She has no standing.
12:40She's nothing.
12:40The Lycan Lord appeared in the doorway, took one look at the dragon sovereign.
12:47Your grace, I apologize for my mate's behavior.
12:52Today of all days, I hope you'll forgive it.
12:56Your mate could use managing.
12:59The dragon sovereign glanced back at Vivienne.
13:03Then he took my arm, and we left.
13:08The next morning, his household was buzzing.
13:11The Lycan Lord's new bride had lost favor on her wedding night.
13:14She'd insulted the sacred fire.
13:16He'd taken a sparrow shifter servant to his bed, and elevated her to second mate.
13:21Vivienne had locked herself in her chambers.
13:24That news traveled fast.
13:25I found a mineral spring in the upper realm.
13:28I went every night for a month.
13:30One night I arrived and heard laughter.
13:32I looked.
13:33Then I wished I hadn't.
13:34Vivienne was in the water, with two men.
13:37Two dragon shifters.
13:39Junior officers by the look of them.
13:41I left quietly.
13:42The heat didn't go away.
13:44I wandered the grounds, trying to walk it off.
13:46Aldrich was outside his own chambers.
13:48Not sleeping either.
13:50He looked like the night had gotten into him.
13:52Dragonkind had their own rhythms.
13:54Their own seasons.
13:55I looked at him for a moment.
13:57Then I made a decision.
13:58I used the oldest skill our bloodline carried.
14:02He would experience it, as a dream.
14:04He wouldn't remember clearly.
14:07You're too thin.
14:08I don't know how you're holding yourself up.
14:10His skin against mine carried a faint, natural coolness.
14:14Like stone in a river.
14:16It moved through me like relief.
14:35I'd planned to clear the memory.
14:37He seemed not to have noticed, or not to care.
14:40Then my body reminded me of something.
14:43I recognized the feeling immediately.
14:45I was pregnant.
14:47Around the same time, so was Vivian.
14:50The Lycan Lord's servants spread it everywhere.
14:53Seven heirs expected.
14:55A miracle for a clan that hadn't produced children in generations.
15:00The keep rejoiced.
15:02Even Aldrich's household received the announcement.
15:05I thought about those two men in the spring.
15:07I hoped, for her sake, she knew what she was carrying.
15:12She came to see me a few weeks later, surrounded by attendants.
15:16She looked radiant.
15:18She always found a way to look radiant.
15:21She pressed her hand to my stomach.
15:23Then looked at my broom.
15:25I thought you'd found yourself a dragon sovereign.
15:28Looks like you're still sweeping floors.
15:31I'm going to be named Holy Sovereign of the Lycan Clan.
15:34First woman in a thousand years to carry their heirs.
15:38The clan elder promised.
15:40Once these children come, I'll have everything.
15:43You should stay away from my hall once I'm settled.
15:48Don't embarrass yourself pretending we're still family.
15:51She turned.
15:52With a gesture, she scattered dead leaves across the path I'd just cleaned.
15:58Then Aldrich appeared.
16:00The leaves reversed direction and hit Vivian in the face.
16:06My household staff aren't yours to entertain yourself with.
16:11I'm carrying the Lyland Lord's A's.
16:14You wouldn't dare hurt me.
16:16My wife is also expecting.
16:20You disrespect her.
16:21I haven't begun to address that yet.
16:24You.
16:24You have no bond.
16:26No ceremony.
16:27No standing.
16:29You're a hollowborn with a child and no covenant.
16:35Mara became my wife before heaven and earth witnessed it.
16:39This stone is my Lyne's oldest heirloom.
16:42It belongs to her now.
16:44She is my mate in full.
16:47A messenger arrived from the High Court.
16:50Mara of the Holy Maidim Bloodline, recognized for valor in defense of a sacred site, is hereby elevated to Holy
16:56Sovereign.
16:56Her bonding to the Dragon Sovereign Aldrich is sanctioned and recorded.
17:00Let it be so.
17:02Vivian's eyes filled.
17:03She cried silently, and the tears were not the soft kind.
17:07The Lycan Lord arrived shortly after.
17:09Dragon Sovereign.
17:10I apologize.
17:12The pregnancy is affecting her temperament.
17:14Aldrich looked at her one last time.
17:16She could use a firmer hand.
17:18Then he brought me home.
17:21That night.
17:23Do you remember it?
17:25My gift of recall isn't something your bloodline's arts can touch.
17:29You were never dreaming either.
17:31I wanted you.
17:33I've wanted you since I watched you fight a sacred fire to save animals that weren't yours and people who
17:39didn't deserve it.
17:41I took you to my bed.
17:43I owe you a name for it.
17:45A name isn't enough.
17:47So I owe you the formal bond, witnessed by heaven and earth, and every treasure in my line.
17:53And the largest bonding celebration the realm has seen in a century.
17:57You'll have all of it.
17:59After the children come, when you're ready.
18:03But you are mine, Mara.
18:07That part was settled the moment I chose it.
18:09A messenger arrived from the High Court.
18:12Mara of the Holy Maidim Bloodline, recognized for valor in defense of a sacred site, is hereby elevated to Holy
18:20Sovereign.
18:21Her bonding to the Dragon Sovereign Aldrich is sanctioned and recorded.
18:26Let it be so.
18:27Vivian's eyes filled.
18:29She cried silently, and the tears were not the soft kind.
18:34The Lycan Lord arrived shortly after.
18:36Dragon Sovereign, I apologize.
18:40The pregnancy is affecting her temperament.
18:43Aldrich looked at her one last time.
18:45She could use a firmer hand.
18:48Then he brought me home.
18:51That night, do you remember it?
18:57My gift of recall isn't something your bloodline's arts can touch.
19:02You were never dreaming, either.
19:04I wanted you.
19:06I've wanted you since I watched you fight a sacred fire to save animals that weren't yours and people who
19:15didn't deserve it.
19:17I took you to my bed.
19:19I owe you a name for it.
19:22A name isn't enough.
19:24So I owe you the formal bond, witnessed by heaven and earth, and every treasure in my line.
19:31And the largest bonding celebration the realm has seen in a century.
19:37You'll have all of it.
19:39After the children come, when you're ready.
19:44But you are mine, Mara.
19:49That part was settled the moment I chose it.
19:52I held on to him, and for the first time since waking into this second life, I didn't have to
19:58hold myself together.
20:00My body moved through the pregnancy with almost uncanny ease.
20:05I was tired, and hungry for strange things, and I slept too long.
20:10Vivian's nights were another matter.
20:13She screamed through them, every night, longer.
20:17The Lycan Lord put a silencing ward around her wing.
20:20It didn't reach the gossip.
20:23They sent fire-aspected tonics.
20:26Womb-strengthening remedies.
20:28All of it intensified the fire.
20:31None of it helped the mother.
20:33She came to show off, still.
20:35By the time I saw her, she was enormous.
20:38Her face had hollowed out.
20:40Her hands and feet were swollen.
20:43She moved like it hurt.
20:44I took her arm before she fell.
20:48You shouldn't be walking around like this.
20:50She shook me off.
20:52My husband says movement makes labor easier.
20:56He knows more about this than you do.
20:59He knows Lycan physiology.
21:01That's not the same thing.
21:03She looked at me with complete contempt.
21:05You're jealous.
21:06You've got that cold little belly, and you know I've won seven heirs.
21:15Seven!
21:17What do you have?
21:19One.
21:23I'm going to be holy sovereign of the most ancient shifter bloodline in the realm.
21:29My children will be legends.
21:32Yours will be a footnote.
21:34She used her power to scatter leaves across my clean steps on the way out.
21:39I watched her go.
21:41Vivian.
21:43What's going to happen when those children arrive?
21:46And none of them are what anyone's expecting?
21:50Vivian went into labor before me.
21:53I brought snacks and found a good position near the back.
21:56She'd been sending celebration suites to every household in the upper realm
22:01since she announced the pregnancy.
22:04Half the realm had shown up to witness the arrival of the Lycan clown's first heirs in a thousand years.
22:12The Lycan lord paced outside.
22:15His entire extended family had come in.
22:18The high court had sent observers.
22:21They weren't there to congratulate anyone.
22:23They were there to record.
22:26I spotted the two dragon shifters from the spring, both very still.
22:31Vivian screamed from midday to sunset.
22:34Then she went quiet.
22:36The crowd held its breath.
22:38The attending midwife came out first, then six attendants behind her, one after another, seven children.
22:47The Lycan lord went to look.
22:49He picked up the first one.
22:51It shifted in his hands, black scales.
22:55His face had gone very wrong.
23:01The Lycan lord looked at him, then at the child, then back.
23:06He understood.
23:08He picked up the next five, one by one.
23:12His hands were shaking by the third.
23:15None of them were Lycan.
23:17He looked up at the crowd.
23:20Hundreds of witnesses.
23:22The high court observers with their recording stones.
23:25Then six more men stepped forward from different directions, each one claiming a child.
23:32The seventh child was half sparrow.
23:35The same bloodline as the servant Vivian had despised enough to betray on purpose.
23:41The crowd didn't make any sound for a long moment.
23:45...moved in to collect their children.
23:48The Lycan lord's killing intent was filling the courtyard like smoke.
23:52Thick.
23:54Suffocating.
23:55...impossible to ignore.
23:57He had nowhere to put it.
24:09Get out!
24:10Get out!
24:11Get out!
24:12You knew, didn't you?
24:14You knew this whole time!
24:17How many sexual partners do you have?
24:19And you're having an affair with my brother.
24:22How long has it been going on?
24:25Our children.
24:26Aren't you going to ask about our children?
24:31Which ones are mine?
24:33I carried them to term.
24:36Nine months.
24:37All seven!
24:40I owe you nothing.
24:41You brought strangers into my bloodline.
24:44You brought my own brother in here.
24:45He died from my bed.
24:47You owe me!
24:48You've made my name into something people are going to tell their children as a warning.
24:53A form of the Lord.
24:54I'll ask you to tell her.
24:55You're going to ask her, then marshal the warhouse.
24:57The Holy Maiden Covenant answers for this.
25:01Then the High Court observer stepped forward.
25:05Hold.
25:06The Lycan Lord was burning alive with rage.
25:10The Observer produced a sealed document.
25:13Lyman Lord, you have been summoned on a separate matter.
25:17Multiple counts of unlawful destruction of a protected sacred site,
25:21harmed to bonded creatures under High Court protection.
25:25You are hereby remanded to the Court's custody pending review.
25:29That's a lie.
25:30Who filed this?
25:32The evidence was gathered by the dragon Sovereign and Aldrich.
25:36He tried to argue.
25:37The Court's soldiers were already in the courtyard.
25:41He shifted to his fire form and went for the sky.
25:45He was fast.
25:46Aldrich was faster.
25:53And the Lycan Lord was simply on the ground in chains,
25:57with Aldrich standing over him.
25:59You have no right!
26:02Those mountains were unregistered.
26:05Those creatures had no protected status.
26:09From the side of the courtyard, one by one, the injured came forward.
26:16They didn't speak.
26:18They just stood there.
26:20Aldrich raised one hand.
26:22The memories came out of them like smoke.
26:24Visible, audible, real.
26:26Every fire.
26:28Every moment the Lycan Lord had appeared in them.
26:31Every time he'd chosen to let it burn, because he liked watching things burn.
26:36Even the day Vivienne found him.
26:38He'd been torturing something small in a clearing.
26:41It had fought back out of desperation.
26:44The explosion of its dying power was what had injured him.
26:47Vivienne had not saved a wounded innocent.
26:51She'd found a predator who'd had an accident.
26:54A thousand years.
26:56The sentence is a thousand years.
27:00They took him.
27:01The courtyard was very quiet.
27:03Then my body made a decision without consulting me.
27:06It's time.
27:09He had me off the ground before I finished speaking.
27:13His chambers had been prepared months in advance.
27:16A deep pool fed by underground springs, treated with old magic.
27:21Calming.
27:21Strengthening.
27:22Restorative.
27:23He'd sourced something rare for it.
27:26Something that had taken time to find.
27:28He lowered me into the water, and it moved through me like the first breath after going
27:34under too long.
27:35He pressed a small stone into my hand.
27:37A healing stone.
27:39The same thing he'd given me in my first life.
27:42When I lay dying in a fire-aspected birthing room.
27:46Burning from the inside out.
27:48Too depleted to survive what was coming.
27:51This time, I was not depleted.
27:54This time, the water was cool.
27:56And the magic was clean.
27:58And he was right there.
28:01I'm afraid.
28:03I know.
28:06I'll be here the whole time.
28:10One cry.
28:12Clear and furious.
28:14My child arrived in the water.
28:16And the water held us both.
28:18He had his father's coloring.
28:20His eyes, when they opened, were pale as winter.
28:25A cold as a speck dragon.
28:27Aldrich was not a man given to visible emotion.
28:30He looked at his son for a long time.
28:32Hello.
28:33And I thought, I have never seen him look like that before.
28:42Then my body lit up from the inside.
28:45Not pain.
28:47Not fire.
28:48A mark appeared at my brow.
28:50An ice flower.
28:52White as bone.
28:53Burning cold.
28:54I was not born of the Holy Maiden Covenant.
28:57I was something older.
28:58From the line of Ninevara, the Nine-Tailed, whose people had held the Northern Sanctuaries
29:03since before the current age of the realm.
29:05They named me Hollowborn.
29:06A thousand years.
29:08Approximately.
29:09You could have told me.
29:10You wouldn't have believed me.
29:11You barely believed I was worth trusting.
29:14You are profoundly irritating.
29:17I know.
29:18And I'm going to be furious about this for a long time.
29:21I know that too.
29:24I looked down at the child in my arms.
29:26Half ancient dragon.
29:28Half something the realm had thought was extinct for a millennium.
29:32Outside, I could hear the realm already talking.
29:34The dragon's sovereign's mate had revealed herself.
29:37The true bloodline of Ninevara.
29:39Thought lost.
29:40Returned.
29:40Soon they would come to pay respects.
29:44You could have had anyone.
29:45You didn't have to wait a thousand years.
29:49Yes, I did.
29:51And for the first time in two lives, I did not brace for what came next.
29:56I was not born of the Holy Maiden Covenant.
29:58I was something older.
29:59From the line of Ninevara, the Nine-Tailed,
30:02whose people had held the Northern Sanctuaries since before the current age of the realm.
30:06They named me Hollowborn.
30:08A thousand years.
30:09Approximately.
30:10You could have told me.
30:11You wouldn't have believed me.
30:12You barely believed I was worth trusting.
30:15You are profoundly irritating.
30:18I know.
30:19And I'm going to be furious about this for a long time.
30:23I know that too.
30:25I looked down at the child in my arms.
30:28Half-ancient dragon.
30:30Half something the realm had thought was extinct for a millennium.
30:33Outside, I could hear the realm already talking.
30:36The dragon's sovereign's mate had revealed herself.
30:38The true bloodline of Ninevara.
30:40Thought lost.
30:41Returned.
30:41Soon they would come to pay respects.
30:45You could have had anyone.
30:47You didn't have to wait a thousand years.
30:50Yes, I did.
30:53And for the first time in two lives, I did not brace for what came next.
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