CHAPTER 52: PULL STAR

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Star lowered his shoulders, tail stiffening as he dug in.

Zephyr lifted one hand. "Three... two... one, pull!"

The young drake let out a guttural growl and lunged forward. His muscles surged beneath scaled shoulders, hindlegs shoving like pistons. The rope jerked taut. The tree groaned.

Roots split the earth with a sharp crack, soil spitting upward in chunks. A limb snapped overhead as bark peeled away from the force. The pine tilted, resisted, then with a rough heave, the entire root ball tore loose, snapping into the air behind Star.

"Now wings—stabilize!" Zephyr yelled.

Star’s wings flared wide, catching the shift in weight just as the tree began toppling forward. The young drake half leapt, half skipped sideways, managing to redirect the fall into a thud beside the clearing.

Fenna, seated near the stacked supply crates, let out a low whistle. "By the ember gods... did he just uproot that thing?"

Zephyr grinned, chest heaving. "That’s what I’m talking about."

Purr!

Star panted heavily, but his tail lashed with pride. He let out a warbling trill, wings raised.

Zephyr jogged over, patting the drake along his steaming flank. "Not bad. We’ll reinforce the anchor for the next one."

They re-rigged twice more, each time tying the rope to a heavier tree. On the third round, Star’s legs gave out midway, sending him sprawling in the dirt with a groan and a puff of ash. Zephyr rushed to check his limbs. There were no strains, just exhaustion.

"We’ll do one more," he murmured. "One clean pull."

By the fifth attempt, Star’s movement had sharpened. His hindlegs drove like pistons, foreclaws digging ruts into the red dirt. His back didn’t sway with each tug. He kept center mass low, wingfolds tight, tail aligned. Zephyr could almost see the stat growth syncing in real-time.

[SYSTEM MESSAGE – TEMPORARY ANALYSIS

Support Staff Assist – Tether Training Protocol Active.

Wing Power +2

Strength +2

Tether Sync: 84% strain threshold

Training Bonus – Technique Efficiency +5%

Duration Remaining: 01 Day ]

Zephyr blinked the blue shimmer from his sight. The staff in his palm pulsed once before fading. It was still wrapped and holstered at his back, a passive conduit only, not a crutch.

"Alright," he said, unfastening the rope from Star’s flank, "break time. You earned it."

Star flopped over on the ground like a sack of wet laundry, his sides heaving as smoke curled from his nostrils in lazy rings.

Fenna walked over with a waterskin and a palm sized bundle of meat jerky. She tossed both down beside the panting drake. "You realize he’s going to hate you by the end of this week."

Zephyr took a swig from his own skin and chuckled. "He can hate me now if it means living later."

"Fair," she said, settling beside him. "He’s improving fast though. Stronger. More... deliberate."

Zephyr nodded. "His growth is obvious. But more importantly, his instincts are syncing with mine."

"Like muscle memory?" Fenna asked.

"Like a bond memory," Zephyr corrected, tapping his temple. "We’re not just commanding. We’re echoing. Beast and tamer in rhythm."

Star let out a small purr in response.

They rested in silence for a while, the hum of Emberwood forest surrounding them. The distant tremors beneath the roots, the scent of sulfur curling through red tipped leaves. Smoke spiraled lazily from a fumarole up the ridge. The air shimmered with residual heat.

"You’re serious about the match, huh?" Fenna finally asked.

Zephyr leaned back on one elbow. "He threatened us. I need to do something. At least beat him, so that we don’t dare to trouble us again."

Fenna looked down, one hand brushing her dagger hilt. "I didn’t need protection. If he comes looking for trouble, then I can beat him on my own."

"I know," he said quietly. "But I did it anyway. It’s a man’s job to protect the ones who he cares about."

She didn’t reply, just leaned against his shoulder. "My Zep is becoming romantic." This thought was inside Fenna’s mind.

Across the clearing, Star was already dozing, curled around the uprooted tree trunk like a nest.

Zephyr’s breath slowed, vision narrowing to one goal... thirteen more days of this. Every step, every pull, every flap mattered.

Tomorrow, they’d train fire and reflex.

And by Full Moon Night... Star would become like a storm, who can sweep anything on his path.

A few moments later...

After a long day of training, the forest fell into a strange hush.

The flickering campfire had been reduced to a mound of glowing coals. Zephyr and Fenna finished their final checks. Their scouting gear packed, food tied down, and camp perimeter chalked in glowing ash runes. Fenna yawned and stretched, her beautiful silky hair glinting under starlight.

"I’m heading in," she murmured, already unlacing her boots. "Don’t stay up planning more drills, alright?"

Zephyr raised his hand in mock-swear. "Scouts’ honor. Sleep well."

Fenna gave a tired wave and disappeared into her canvas tent.

Zephyr lingered by the fire a while longer, Star curled against his hip like a heat stone with wings. The young drake had worked hard, harder than Zephyr expected. His breaths came slow and even now, the soft rattle of fatigue hidden beneath each exhale. When the last embers dimmed, Zephyr gathered the little dragon into his arms, feeling the warmth radiating through his tunic, and made his way to the makeshift lean-to Arlen had provided for them.

He set Star down gently onto the nest of rolled pelts. The drake purred once, tail twitching. Zephyr lay beside him, one hand on the dragon’s black scaled back, and let the weight of the day pull him under.

Silence fell. Then came the faintest rustle.

A shadow slipped from the forest edge. No larger than a baby cat, it scampered across the camp perimeter with astonishing grace. It was hopping the ash rune boundary without triggering it. Its shape was a mystery in the dark: plump, low to the ground, with stubby wings and tufts of orange-gold feathers that shimmered faintly in the moonlight.