DragonCoin Revolution

Chapter 9

"It's happening everywhere," she whispered. "Whatever we're doing, it's spreading."

"Not us," Xaihuang said grimly. "Them. Each DragonCoin transaction creates a resonance cascade. Whoever designed this currency is systematically dismantling the concealment protocols."

The car shuddered suddenly, its smooth flight becoming turbulent. Marcus's knuckles went white on the controls as warning symbols flashed across the dashboard.

"Scale-Sync failure," he announced, his voice tight with concentration. "The interference is too strong."

Below them, Sage could see other vehicles on the highway beginning to exhibit strange behaviours, cars moving in perfect geometric formations, their headlights pulsing in synchronised patterns. A semi-truck's trailer was glowing with the same pearlescent light she'd seen in the underground pool.

"They're all dragon-operated," she realised. "The whole transportation network—it's not just human infrastructure, is it?"

"Integrated systems," Marcus confirmed, fighting to maintain altitude as another wave of turbulence hit them. "Dragons have been essential to human technological development for generations. We've just been very good at staying invisible."

The dashboard symbols flared brighter, and Sage felt heat building in her chest—not uncomfortable, but powerful, like standing too close to a bonfire. When she exhaled, her breath misted with golden sparkles that danced in the air before dissolving into nothing.

"Elemental manifestation," Xaihuang observed, his eyes gleaming with interest. "Earlier than expected."

Marcus shot him a warning look through the rearview mirror. "Sage, focus on your breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Visualise the energy as a current flowing through you, not escaping from you."

She tried to follow his instructions, but the heat only intensified. Her fingertips tingled, and when she glanced down, she saw her nails had taken on a golden, almost metallic sheen. "I don't think breathing exercises are going to cut it," she said, her voice higher than normal.

The car dropped suddenly, plunging several hundred feet before Marcus managed to stabilise it. Below them, the highway traffic patterns were growing more erratic—some vehicles slowing to a stop while others accelerated in bizarre zigzag patterns.

"The Scale-Sync network is collapsing entirely," Marcus muttered, his features flickering between human and something more angular, his skin taking on a subtle golden sheen. "We need to land."

"In the middle of this chaos?" Xaihuang gestured at the spreading disruption below. "The transition zones are our safest option."

"What's a transition zone?" Sage asked, trying to ignore how her copper hair now seemed to be floating slightly, defying gravity.

"Places where the boundary between realms is naturally thin," Marcus explained, banking the car toward what looked like an ordinary rest stop just off the highway. "They're maintained by NODS operatives to provide emergency refuge during magical disruptions."

As they descended, Sage could see that the rest stop wasn't ordinary at all. While most of the highway was in chaos, this area remained strangely calm—cars parked in perfect geometric patterns, travellers moving with deliberate purpose rather than panic. The building itself seemed to shimmer slightly, its architecture subtly different from standard roadside facilities.

The car touched down with surprising gentleness in a parking space marked with symbols similar to those in the underground chamber. As soon as the engine stopped, Sage felt the heat in her chest subside slightly, though her fingertips still glowed with that metallic sheen.

"The stabilisation field is working," Marcus observed with relief. "At least the local infrastructure is still functional."

A middle-aged woman in a park ranger uniform approached their car, her expression pleasant but her eyes—a startling amber—alert and assessing. When she spotted Xaihuang in the backseat, her smile tightened almost imperceptibly.

"Councillor Chen," she greeted Marcus as he stepped out. "We weren't expecting high-level transit tonight." Her gaze shifted to Sage, widening slightly. "And with a... new emergence?"

"Field Warden," Marcus nodded respectfully. "We're en route to the Pacific Northwest convergence point. Emergency protocol seven."

The woman's posture stiffened. "Seven?" The field warden's eyes darted between them, her pleasant expression slipping into something more guarded. "That protocol hasn't been activated since—"

"Since the Shimmer Incident," Xaihuang finished, stepping gracefully from the car despite his apparent age. "History has a way of repeating itself, Warden Lysithea."

The woman Lysithea pursed her lips, then gave a curt nod. "Follow me. The transition facility is experiencing fluctuations, but the inner sanctum remains stable."

Sage climbed out of the car, her legs unsteady. The rest stop looked normal enough from the outside, with vending machines, bathrooms, and tourist information displays, but now she could see the subtle differences. The pamphlet rack contained brochures with shifting text that reorganised itself when no one was looking directly at it. The floor tiles formed patterns that seemed to guide travellers along specific paths without them realising it.

"Are all rest stops like this?" she whispered to Marcus as they followed Lysithea toward the main building.

"Only at key junctures," he replied quietly. "The human transportation grid was designed to overlap with ancient dragon migration routes. It's more efficient that way, magical energy helps fuel modern infrastructure, and in return, human activity generates ambient resonance that we can harvest."

"Symbiosis," Sage murmured, remembering a chapter from her novel where she'd described almost exactly this relationship—though she'd called it "ley line augmentation" rather than Scale-Sync.

Inside, the rest stop's true nature became more apparent. While ordinary travellers moved through what appeared to be a standard facility, Lysithea led them through a doorway marked "Maintenance Only" that shimmered slightly as they passed through.

Beyond was a circular chamber with a domed ceiling etched with constellations that didn't match any sky Sage had ever seen. The walls were lined with monitoring stations where people dragons? In uniform worked at interfaces that blended touchscreens with what looked like liquid metal controls.

"Status report," Lysithea demanded as they entered.

A young technician looked up, his eyes shifting from human brown to reptilian slit-pupils as he spoke. "Scale-Sync disruption at 64% and rising. We've implemented local stabilisation protocols, but the cascade effect is accelerating. DragonCoin transactions have increased 400% in the last hour alone."