Rise of Fire: Dragons Reborn [COMPLETED]

Chapter 43

**** DISCLAIMER: This story is LGBTQ, I have finally introduced the first of many relationships that Talia will have/ has had. I couldn't really figure out how to weasel it in but I feel like I did an alright job. Let me know what you think! I'm trying to flesh out the more non pg relationships that Talia is part of. She's not a pg person, so I'm sure you're not surprised! Also if you haven't noticed already I put up a new cover page! It's a custom piece I commissioned specifically for this story. I'd love it if you took a gander at it and let me know what you think for an official cover when the time for publishing comes! Anyways, thank you as always for your continued support and I'll see you in the next chapter.***********

Talia grinned wickedly at the bubbling concoction in front of her. How long had it taken her to get to this point? It felt like years but she knew it couldn't be more than a month or two at the most. Smuggling in the supplies had been the hardest part, Lotus was always watching and becoming more and more difficult to trick as the weeks bled on. Yet she had finally succeeded.

The air around her was a cacophony of noise and mana mingling together like cooking oil and water. As time had went on her ability to store and use mana had grown, it was no longer dripping away into what felt like an empty void. The more she was able to retain the more she was able to move freely, she was already practically dancing around her alchemical set as she prepared her best work.

'If you keep it up those healers are going to snake their way back in here.' Reezara warned idly. She was the size of a large dog now, her wings alone took up nearly half the room. Talia paused for a moment, blinking as if her mind had been drawn back to her. She had to spend a few seconds focusing her vision, drawing the world of mana and the world of flesh together to form a coherent picture in her head. With nothing better to do she had been focusing on honing her vision for the past several weeks. It turned out to be quite useful when it came to detecting the healers approach.

'Those ass-biting halfwits couldn't sneak up on me to save their non-lives anymore. They're nowhere near here right now.' She had taken several moments to be extra certain they were far from her chambers. She couldn't see the entire castle grounds, but she could see far enough to ensure at least a few minutes to clean up if she had to. Reezara lay her head on her forelegs, stretched comfortably across the stone floor.

Talia had discovered the healers true nature several weeks prior, and much to her surprise she had been right in assuming they weren't human. At least, they weren't human anymore. The four healers who oftentimes tended her were what were known as wraiths, bodies of the living which now lie empty like husks. Although the leader was slightly different, he had an aura of sorts while the rest simply appeared to her like black holes consuming every drop of mana in the atmosphere around them. They also all had tethers, thin glistening lines of mana that connected them to their master, though she could never see far enough to determine just who the puppeteer was.

With Reezara's concerns abated for the time being she turned back to the task at hand. She had four beakers full of different concoctions. Each one had a great deal of glasswork connected to them. She had several flames burning low which caused several thermal reactions throughout her setup. She had purified water boiling into steam and then compressing back into a liquid after reacting with powders, which eventually lead to the most potent poisons she had ever crafted. She was almost sad Midnight wasn't there to marvel at her handiwork, she finally felt as if her work could rival the master's.

'Why have you crafted so many? Wouldn't one do just as well?' Reezara had been duitifully observing her rider dance around the table and mix all sorts of powders, liquids, and herbs for hours. She had never seen Talia working so animatedly, it seemed that crafting poisons beneath the King and even Lotus's nose was one of the few things that gave her satisfaction anymore. Although now with her ability to walk slowly returning to her she knew the time for slaying was nearly upon them. Her own bloodlust boiled deep within her, though she preferred to gut her prey rather than poison them like some sort of snake.