Chapter 170: What Ignis Wants

Chapter 170: Chapter 170: What Ignis Wants

The car had been useless as a car for weeks, half-submerged near a flooded intersection with its engine long since drowned, but Killian saw something else in it the moment he waded close enough to study its frame properly.

He pressed both hands against the hood, closing his eyes, feeling past the surface of the metal into the deeper structure beneath — the atomic architecture that made steel steel, that gave it shape and rigidity, that he could, with enough focus, convince to become something else entirely.

The reshaping took nearly ten minutes, sweat beading along his brow despite the cool, wet air, the car’s frame slowly folding and stretching and thinning under his sustained concentration until what remained bore no resemblance at all to its original shape — a narrow, low-slung hull, watertight, buoyant, crude in its finish but structurally sound.

Impressive, Ziki observed, watching the transformation with something close to genuine admiration. Though I would recommend refining the hull’s curvature next time. The current design will handle choppy water poorly.

"Noted," Killian said, breathing hard, lowering himself onto the makeshift boat’s edge to rest for a moment before continuing.

He’d been out for nearly three hours now, working his way methodically through a flooded commercial district that hadn’t yet been fully picked through, clearing infected as he found them, sweeping supplies into his space, and — increasingly, over the last several days — hunting specifically for the evolved variants that carried the small, glowing crystal cores Ignis had made unmistakably clear he wanted delivered promptly and often.

He found the next one twenty minutes later, crouched behind an overturned mail truck, faster and more coordinated than an ordinary infected, tracking his approach with an awareness that still unsettled him no matter how many times he’d witnessed it now.

Killian didn’t hesitate. One clean, precise motion, atoms rearranging themselves at the exact point where the creature’s skull met its spine, and it dropped before it ever closed half the distance.

He crouched beside the body, working the small crystal free with practiced efficiency, and held it up briefly to the gray light, watching it pulse in his palm with the same faint, internal glow as every other one he’d collected.

That makes eleven this week, Ziki reported. Ignis will be pleased.

"Ignis is always pleased when it involves food," Killian said, tucking the crystal into his space alongside the others.

He would likely argue that framing. He considers the crystals a matter of proper respect, not simple appetite.

"He can argue whatever he likes. Doesn’t change what it looks like from where I’m standing."

Speaking of Ignis, Ziki said, something more deliberate entering the tone now, I would recommend you consider dedicated training time with him soon. His growth has accelerated significantly since your last visit, and an untrained dragon, regardless of size, represents a meaningful liability if his instincts ever outpace his discipline.

Killian considered that while he waded toward the next stretch of flooded street, the reshaped boat trailing behind him on a length of salvaged rope. "You’re worried he’ll do something reckless."

I am certain he will do something reckless, eventually. The only variable is whether he has been properly trained to recover from it by the time it happens.

I heard that, Ignis’s voice cut in, sudden and indignant, carrying easily across the private channel connecting Killian to his space regardless of distance. I do not require training to avoid recklessness. I require training because Master apparently believes I should spend my formative months confined to a single mountain valley like some overgrown pet.

You’re not confined, Killian thought back, amusement threading through the words despite himself. You’re protected.

Those are the same thing, phrased more politely.

"He’s not wrong that training would help," Killian said aloud, mostly for Ziki’s benefit. "I just don’t know when I’d fit it in, with everything else demanding attention right now."

I could suggest a schedule, Ziki offered. Though I suspect the larger obstacle isn’t time. It’s Ignis’s other request.

Killian’s jaw tightened slightly. He already knew exactly what request Ziki meant.

I want to come outside, Ignis said immediately, seizing the opening without hesitation. Just once. Just to see it. I have existed entirely within that valley since the moment I hatched, Master. I have never once seen the world you disappear into every single day.

"Absolutely not," Killian said, firm.

Why not?

"Because you’re a dragon, Ignis. An actual, visible, fire-breathing dragon. If you walked out into that street right now, you wouldn’t just draw attention — you’d become the single most important discovery anyone in this city has made since the apocalypse started. People would either try to kill you or try to capture you, and either outcome ends badly for both of us."

I could defend myself.

"You’re the size of a large dog. You’d get yourself killed before you finished proving the point."

I have grown considerably since hatching.

"Not considerably enough," Killian said. "Not yet."

There was a long, sulking silence on the other end of the connection, the particular petulant quiet Killian had come to recognize over the past several weeks as Ignis regrouping rather than surrendering.

This world is unbearably restrictive, Ignis finally said. In every story I have absorbed from the memories embedded in this space, dragons soared freely across skies, terrorized villages, hoarded treasure in the open air. I am confined to a valley, forbidden from stepping beyond a stone cave, and expected to be satisfied with crystals delivered secondhand by a human who won’t even let me witness the hunt myself.

"Welcome to the apocalypse," Killian said dryly. "Nobody’s satisfied with their circumstances right now."

You are insufferable, Ignis said, though something less genuinely offended than performatively dramatic colored the accusation. All of you. Humans. Insufferable, overly cautious, allergic to any reasonable risk.

That caution is why you’re still alive, Ziki interjected. I would remind you that the crystals Master collects are necessary precisely because your growth requires more sustained energy than the space alone currently provides. If Master were captured or killed attempting to satisfy your curiosity about the outside world, your own development would suffer considerably more than your pride currently is.

Nobody asked you, Ignis said.

I offer my opinion regardless of whether it is requested. That is the function I serve.

Killian allowed himself a small, tired smile despite the exhaustion pulling at him, wading the last stretch toward a partially submerged pharmacy he hadn’t cleared yet. "Both of you, enough. Ignis, I promise, the moment it’s safe — genuinely safe, not just safe enough that I’m willing to risk it — I’ll bring you out. Somewhere isolated, somewhere nobody’s likely to stumble across us. Just not yet."

You always say not yet.

"Because it’s always true," Killian said. "The world hasn’t finished getting more dangerous. I’m not going to introduce a second variable into that equation before I understand the first one properly."

Another long pause, though this one carried less obvious sulking, something closer to grudging acceptance settling into the silence instead.

Fine, Ignis said finally. But I expect training, at minimum. If I am to remain confined, I refuse to remain untrained as well. That combination is beneath me.

"Deal," Killian said. "I’ll carve out time this week. Properly, not just a rushed hour before I collapse from exhaustion."

See that you do. A brief pause, and then, grudgingly, almost too quiet to catch: And bring back something good today. Not just crystals. Something that smells like it belongs to this new world you insist on keeping me away from.

Killian’s mouth twitched despite himself. "I’ll see what I can find."

He waded the rest of the way to the pharmacy in comfortable silence after that, Ziki quiet now, Ignis’s presence settling back into its usual low, simmering hum at the edge of his awareness — impatient, proud, thoroughly convinced of his own readiness for a world he’d genuinely never once set eyes on.

Killian pushed the pharmacy’s door open carefully, weapon raised out of habit, and began the familiar, methodical work of clearing the shelves, collecting what remained, watching for the telltale signs of another evolved variant among whatever infected still lingered in the flooded aisles.

Insufferable, Ignis’s voice drifted back one final time, quieter now, almost fond despite the word’s sharp edge. All of you.

Killian didn’t bother responding. He simply smiled, faint and tired, and kept working.

By the time he finished clearing the pharmacy, dusk had begun settling over the flooded street outside, the gray light dimming further into something closer to true evening, and he found himself lingering a moment longer than strictly necessary near the shattered front window, watching the water ripple faintly under the last traces of daylight.

You should head back soon, Ziki said, quieter now, some of the earlier sharpness in his tone softening into something closer to simple concern. The infected grow bolder after dark. Even the ordinary ones.

"I know." Killian didn’t move immediately, some old, unnamed weight settling over him despite the day’s productive haul. "Ziki. Do you think he’s right? That I’m too cautious?"

I think caution has kept you alive through more than most people would survive once, Ziki said. I also think Ignis is young enough to mistake safety for confinement, and that distinction will matter more to him the longer this world stays dangerous.

"That’s not really an answer."

It’s the honest one I have.

Killian considered that for a long moment, then finally turned from the window, gathering the last of the day’s supplies before heading back out into the darkening street, boat trailing quietly behind him through the flooded, waiting city.

A/N: I was stuck working long hours and also had some kid-related events, so I unfortunately missed a few Chapter uploads. I’ve dropped the missing Chapters today, so you’re all caught up! ❤️