The clock was ticking. Twenty-two days left.

Every tick of the clock in the archive felt like pain Jonah's head. While Seraph and Draven were out in the city hunting a ghost, he and Vanessa were here, chasing a ghost of their own.

They were trapped.

"It's of no use," Vanessa said, as she moved back from the holographic console. She ran her hands through her hair, her usual, neat bun now messy. "I've run the simulation a hundred and seventeen times. Every single time, the result is the same."

She pointed to the red warning that came up on the screen:

[CRITICAL CORE INSTABILITY].

"The essences are just too different," she explained. "The Void-Jelly, the Solar Moth, the Phase Spider... they're like oil, fire, and water. They refuse to mix. We're missing a key ingredient. A binder. An anchor. Something powerful enough to force them together and hold them in place."

Jonah stared at the blinking red light, feeling a sense of fear growing in his chest. They had the blueprint and the ingredients. But they had no bowl to mix them in. The world was going to end, and it was because they couldn't solve an impossible magical equation.

He closed his eyes, his mind working quickly. An anchor. A stabilizing force. Something that could connect the dark of the void with the burning light of a star. Something that understood the twisted nature of space itself.

Where could they possibly find an essence like that?

An idea began to form in his mind. It was a feeling. Something he remembered. A story he had been told his whole life, a legend that was the foundation of his entire nation.

The Immortal Golden Dragon.

The legends said it was a god-like draconic beast. A creature from the heavens. A creature that traveled the stars.

A creature that would have a natural affinity for the void.

Jonah's eyes quickly opened. The idea was insane and scary.

It was their only chance.

"Vanessa," he said, his voice a low whisper. "The Divine Serum. It's made from the dragon's essence, right?"

She looked at him, confused by the sudden change of topic. "Yes. It's a heavily diluted and refined version. Why did you ask? Hmm... What are you thinking, Jonah?"

"What if..." he started, his heart beating fast. "What if we used the real thing? A small piece of the original, pure essence. As the anchor."

Vanessa stared at him, her eyes wide with shock. "Jonah, no. You can't be serious. That essence is the nation's most guarded secret! It's the power source for the capital city's magical grid! It's... it's sacred!"

"I know," he said, his voice becoming stronger and urgent. "But it's the only thing that makes sense to me! It's the only creature we know of that didn't come from this world! It's the only thing powerful enough, and strange enough, to hold this Progeny together!"

It was a crazy risk. But as Jonah said it out loud, he knew for certain, that it was the right solution. It was the missing piece of the puzzle.

_____________________________________________

The Headmaster's study was dark and quiet. He listened to Jonah's insane proposal without saying a word, his face showing no emotions under his dim desk light.

When Jonah was finished, the Headmaster didn't say anything for a long moment.

"What you are asking for," the Headmaster finally said, his voice low. "is a greater sacrifice than you can possibly imagine."

He stood up and walked towards the large window, looking out at the lights of the capital city. "The story we tell our children, the story of the great hero who defeated the dragon and blessed our nation with its power... it is a lie. A necessary and terrible lie."

"We did not defeat the dragon," the Headmaster confessed. "We trapped it. The founders of this nation, in their greed for a power they had not earned, performed a forbidden Artificer ritual. They captured a god, a celestial being, and they imprisoned it. They tore its body apart, but they could not kill its spirit. Its mind."

He looked away from the window, his eyes full of sadness.

"The dragon's essence is not just a battery, Jonah. It is a living being. A dying god, held in a magical prison deep under the ground, its life force being slowly and painfully taken away to power our city. It has been there for centuries, alone in the dark, in constant pain."

The truth hit Jonah hard.

The foundation of his nation, the source of all its strength and pride, was built on a foundation of unimaginable cruelty. It was the worst sin of the forced synthesis ideology.

"To take a piece of its essence, as you are suggesting..." the Headmaster continued, his voice heavy. "It would not be like taking a cup of water from a river. It would be like tearing a piece from its soul. The pain would be immense. The shock to its system could speed up its decay, causing city-wide power failures. It could cripple our entire nation overnight."

The clock was ticking. Twenty-two days.

The lives of everyone in the city, the stability of his entire nation, depended on the suffering of a captive god. And now, he was being asked to make that suffering even worse.

Jonah thought of the orbital weapon. He thought of Julian Sterling. He thought of a world held hostage, a world where creation itself was a product to be bought and sold.

He looked at the shining city outside the window, a city powered by a terrible pain. And he knew what he had to do.

It was a terrible choice. A deal made when there was no other way.

He had to risk destroying his nation's current life in order to save its future.

Jonah met the Headmaster's tired eyes. His own face was serious, but his voice was steady, filled with purpose.

"I have to try," he said. "Take me to it."

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